Madam, - Regarding the operations of M&M Caireal, Teo, known locally in Moycullen as Welby's quarry, the report in your edition of September 24th, compounded by the headline "Gaeltacht authority was warned over grant aid to quarry", needs clarification.
The opening paragraphs give the impression that this issue of the location of the quarry was the subject of a "warning" in a report. This was not so. The location of the quarry was not even the subject of the report, commissioned by Údaras na Gaeltachta from Enterprise Ireland to examine the aggregate market in Connemara and to look for opportunities for producers in the area.
Because of the particular terrain involved, the question of the boundary of the Gaeltacht and the location of the quarry did not become an issue until it was raised in 2002 in a dispute between a local resident and the quarry owners.
The headline "Gaeltacht authority was warned over grant aid to quarry" is misleading in that the authority was not "warned" about grant aiding the quarry in question. Although the report stated that "Caution is advised in giving grant aid for the development of quarries so as not to distort the market", the author immediately went on to say that an "exception might be considered" in the case of the quarry in question. This point is buried within your report.
In subsequent meetings with the author of the report we discussed the report's findings and its preferred option, that of seeking an outside investor - as I would have been happy to elaborate if your reporter, Liam Reid, had contacted me before writing his story. Arising from discussions with the promoters we concluded that this route was not available and we took the decision to grant aid the quarry in question so that it could proceed with its development plans and generate additional employment in the area.
It is worth repeating that in 1998 when the grant aid was approved, Galway County Council was of the view that the quarry did not require planning permission. Subsequent developments, such as the over-turning of the Galway County Council view by An Bord Pleanála in 2002 and the issuing of a formal notice by the European Commission to the Government in 2004 regarding quarrying in a national context, are included in The Irish Times report as if Údarás na Gaeltachta could have had some prescience of such developments and ought to be have taken them into account in 1998. - Yours, etc.,
PÁDRAIG Ó hAOLÁIN, Deputy Chief Executive - Regional Development, Údarás na Gaeltachta, Na Forbacha, Gaillimh.