The controversial £43.5 million sewage treatment plant proposed for Mutton Island in Galway Bay is under renewed threat, this time from legal proceedings centring on ownership of the seabed between the island and the shore.
It is claimed the area is privately owned by the successors of Henry Grattan, the leader of the last independent parliament in Ireland before the Act of Union in 1801.
The Grattan estate has applied for a High Court injunction restraining Galway Corporation from developing a causeway to Mutton Island. The corporation has already begun work on a 900-metre causeway.
Yesterday, Mr Justice McCracken adjourned for two weeks the application for the injunction, brought on behalf of the estate, of which the beneficiary is Anne Duchess de Stackpoole.
The judge suggested that discussions might take place between lawyers for the parties.
The proceedings have been opened in the names of Mr Patrick Barthropp, of Lymington, Hampshire, England, and Mr John Bland, Blandsfort, Ballyroan, Co Laois.
Mr George Brady SC, for Galway Corporation, said it had secured a foreshore licence from the State but had "held up its hands" and admitted there was trespass on the area the estate claims to own. An offer had been made to the trustees of the estate. The trustees claim to hold the interest in the seabed from the island to the shore and in contiguous coast lands. This is the second set of legal proceedings which threaten to hold up the construction of the treatment plant. In March last year the Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to the plant brought by Galway actor Raymond McBride on behalf of the Save Galway Bay Group.
The corporation claims the plant is urgently needed because eight million gallons of raw sewage are being discharged daily into Galway Bay.
Contracts for the works were signed in May last year and the total cost of the project is £43.5 million of which about £6 million has been spent to date.
The corporation fears that if the work is held up it will face penalties, the waters around Grattan Road and Ballyloughane beach will continue to be unfit for bathing and pollution will affect oyster beds at Clarenbridge.