Waste Campaigns

national | environment | news report Thursday February 25, 2010 19:38 by Contaminated Crow

Reports from down the country from August 2008 to December 2009 show consistent opposition to proposed waste facilities from local residents, including opposition to attempted expansion of existing facilities and co-location of facilities with existing waste facilities. While opposition to landfilling and incineration has continued, it has been joined by opposition to other activities of the waste disposal industry, including waste storage, transfer and recycling facilities and biological waste treatment facilities, including objections to sludge disposal, whether by land spreading, drying or sea disposal.

WASTE CAMPAIGNS

Reports from down the country from August 2008 to December 2009 show consistent opposition to proposed waste facilities from local residents, including opposition to attempted expansion of existing facilities and co-location of facilities with existing waste facilities. While opposition to landfilling and incineration has continued, it has been joined by opposition to other activities of the waste disposal industry, including waste storage, transfer and recycling facilities and biological waste treatment facilities, including objections to sludge disposal, whether by land spreading, drying or sea disposal.

Landfill
For waste disposal by landfilling, two decades-long campaigns have continued. South Tipperary County Council is continuing with its attempt to develop a landfill at Hardbog, Grangemockler, which has taken the council 12 years so far. A council official told a meeting in December 2009 'We have done everything we can over the last twelve years to bring this badly needed landfill on board but unfortunately we have been thwarted at every turn.' The council currently fear an appeal to the Supreme Court. (Clonmel Nationalist 17/12/09, p. 1). Meanwhile, Greenstar’s plans for a ‘superdump’ at Usk in Co. Kildare continued to face legal challenges from local residents who have been fighting the proposed dump for the last ten years. In October 2008 Usk and District Residents Association Ltd. (UDRAL) announced it was planning further legal action over the Greenstar application to set up a superdump at Usk, near Kilcullen, Co. Kildare, which has already been the subject of two An Bord Pleanala oral hearings. Des Henry of UDRAL said a key objection was that the dump would service the entire country and questioned ‘why can Cork County Council successfully stop Greenstar from opening a new superdump in Ballygarue, Co. Cork while Kildare planners are willing to accept that waste from Cork can be dumped in south Kildare? We still have no answers from the Kildare county manager on this’. (Kildare Nationalist 10/10/08, p.3) The same month local campaigners disputed a statement by Greenstar that it would shortly commence work on its landfill site at Usk now that its Kilcullen landfill site has reached capacity. Des Henry of UDRA said, ‘Greenstar was given planning permission but a second judicial review has now been initiated and the permission is not effective until the legal issues are fully resolved’, noting the residents had ‘considerable confidence’ that they would win their case. (Kildare Nationalist, 31/10/08, p. 3) Judicial review proceedings began in the High Court on March 10th (Leinster Leader 12/3/09, p.2), with a decision expected on Friday July 3rd. (Leinster Leader 2/7/09, p. 8). The judgement when it came was a vbindication of the local residents’ opposition, overturning the granting of planning permission for the landfill, (Leinster Leader 16/7/09, p. 3; Wicklow People 15/7/09, p. 5).

This period also saw intense opposition to proposals to increase capacity at existing landfill sites, as well as proposals to locate further waste disposal activities close to existing landfill sites. In Kentstown, Co. Meath, Paddy Lawlor, chairperson of Knockharley and District Residents’ Association (KDRA), said 120 residents protested at the Greenstar landfill at Knockharley, Kentstown at the landfill’s open day on Saturday November 1st 2008 to show Greenstar they were ‘utterly dissatisfied with the way the existing dump is run’. Anti-dump protester Fergal O’Byrne said Greenstar security staff locked the gates to the landfill to keep protesters out, a claim Greenstar deny: Fergal said ‘We have seen the bully-boy tactics this morning as we tried to gain access to the site’. Greenstar wass applying to increase tonnage accepted at the landfill from 132,000 to 400,000 tonnes annually. (Meath Chronicle 8/11/08, p.3) Confirming its application to increase the tonnage of waste accepted at Knockharley, was to be lodged with An Bord Pleanala under the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act on November 15th, Greenstar denied claims by KDRA that it was ‘completely untrue’ that the company had been keeping the local community informed. KDRA also complained that Greenstar failed to attend a public meeting it had organized despite being invited by registered letter four times: Greenstar replied it considered its own two-day information at the landfill a good opportunity to engage with the local community. (Meath Chronicle 15/11/08, p3). A group of Kentstown residents staged a sit-in in November 2008 at the EPA offices in Dublin to highlight their dissatisfaction with the EPA’s failure to police the Knockharley landfill. Paddy Lawlor said residents were subject to a ‘disgusting odour’ daily from the dump. The EPA is to take legal proceedings against Greenstar on November 24th and promised to meet residents after the proceedings conclude. (Meath Chronicle 22/11/08, p.1) Greenstar’s plan to increase waste intake at Knockharley was roundly condemned at a meeting of Meath County Council. Councillors criticised the landfill’s operation and raised concerns over possible water contamination due to the landfill. (Meath Chronicle 17/1/09, p.4). At the oral hearing a Greenstar representative said the plan would result in the landfill being closed 16 years earlier than planned. (Meath Chronicle 28/2/09, p.6). Local residents told the oral hearing that the landfill is having a ‘dreadful’ effect on their lives. (Meath Chronicle 7/3/09, p.4). In May An Bord Pleanala refused Greenstar permission to increase the amount of waste it landfills at Knockherley, a move which delighted the KDRA, whose secretary, Jim McCormack, welcomed the decision and hoped Greenstar would now ‘concentrate on operating the facility in accordance with the EPA licence’. (Meath Chronicle 23/5/09, p. 3). The following month Meath Green Party candidate Fergal O’Byrne lodged a formal complaint with the EU over Ireland’s failure to comply with EU waste disposal law, citing the case of the Knockharley landfill, where he claims the Irish state has failed to put in place a system for pre-treatment of waste prior to landfilling and both Meath County Council and An Bord Pleanala have failed to require pre-treatment as a condition for planning permission. (Meath Chronicle 6/6/09, p. 7).

In Co. Laois residents campaigned against a landfill operation by Laois County Council and an accompanying operation by AES. In October 2008 the Derryguile and Kyletalesha Residents Association (DKRA) appealed to An Bord Pleanala against a decision by Laois County Council to allow AES –now owned by Bord na Mona- to retain its waste facility at the Kyletalesha landfill which has operated without permission for the last three years. AES proposed to more than double its capacity to nearly 100,000 tonnes annually. The DKRA statement says ‘If an ordinary man (sic) in the street was found to have built a shed or room outside planning regulations he (sic) would be told to take it down. So this organization, which has operated outside of planning for three years plus, should also be ordered to cease operations’. (Leinster Express 1/10/08 p.5) Later that month DKRA celebrated victory when An Bord Pleanala ruled against AES’s application for planning permission for a supercomposter at the site. (Leinster Leader 29/10/08, p.2) Residents who live near the landfill held a public meeting in Mountmellick on the 9th February 2009 on odour and other problems associated with the landfill. Leo Dunne, chairperson of the DKRA said while council officials guaranteed the odour problem would be tackled in 2006, the smells were worse than ever: ‘It’s been going on three years. There has been too many problems and too much sickness’ Mr. Dunne said, referring to 37 cancer deaths in the area which he linked to the landfill. (Leinster Express 28/1/09, pp. 2,17). More than 250 people attended the meeting to call for the closure of the Kyletalisha landfill at which claims were made that the landfill was associated with local cancer clusters and dangerous gases, while the local monitoring committee was being deliberately kept in the dark and incidents reported to Laois County Council were not passed on to the EPA. (Laois Nationalist 13/2/09, p.1). While in April Laois County Council rejected claims by the DKRA that it didn’t make sense to continue expanding the Kyletalesha landfill due to a recent drop in the tonnage of waste deposited there. (Leinster Express 1/4/09, p. 5), in August it announced it would undertake a ‘technical dialogue’ with ‘interested market participants’ in relation to the possible privatisation of the county’s superdump at Kyletalesha. (Leinster Express 26/8/09, p. 2). In November An Bord Pleanala refused AES permission to continue using its waste transfer facility at Kyletalisha upholding an appeal by residents from the area, who have been campaigning to close the site since it was set up in 2003. (Laois Nationalist 13/11/09, p. 1). Bord na Mona, which owns the AES waste facility near Kyletalisha, Portlaoise, which has been operating without planning permission for the last four years, is considering an appeal to the High Court against a recent An Bord Pleanala decision to refuse planning retention. (Leinster Express 18/11/09, p. 8).

Bord na Mona’s dumping operation in Co. Kildare also faced opposition. Local residents will oppose plans to treble the size of the Bord na Mona dump at Drehid, Carbury, Co. Kildare at a hearing in Naas in September, after Bord na Mona applied directly to An Bord Pleanala rather than the local council under legislation introduced in 2006. One local resident, involved in the opposition to the original dump proposal, said ‘This is not an extension; it is an effective trebling of the size and there are many concerns already such as the build up of surface water at the existing dump. There may be future applications to extend the dump for all we know.’ (Leinster Leader 28/8/08, p.1) Speaking at the oral hearing Ms. Breda Logan, a member of the company’s Community Liaison Committee, said the local area was seriously infested by flies, a complaint supported by a petition signed by 256 of her neighbours. Bord na Mona admitted the problem existed and has engaged a pesticide consultant to deal with it. Other criticisms aired at the hearing include doubts at Bord na Mona’s ability to manage odour abatement at the increased-capacity landfill, while extraction of gravel is alleged to have lowered the water table. (Leinster Leader 18/9/08, p. 2).

Plans by county councils to expand landfills also faced local opposition. Local residents of Derryclure, Co. Offaly, were reported to be angry at an application by Offaly County Council to increase waste intake at the landfill site at Derryclure from 40,000 to 100,000 tonnes annually, with some claiming that the County Council gave them to believe that the landfill, opened in 1977, would close after ten years. (Tullamore Tribune 12/11/08, p.9). In August 2009 An Bord Pleanala refused Offaly County Council’s proposal. (Tullamore Tribune 27/8/09, p. 1; Westmeath Independent 29/8/09, p. 2)

Cavan Better Waste Management (CBWM) held a public meeting on November 24th 2008 at the Hotel Kilmore, Cavan, to mobilize opposition to the proposal by Oxigen Environmental Ltd. to process 200,000 tonnes of waste annually at a proposed recycling park and biological treatment plant adjacent to its landfill site at Corranure, near Cavan town. CBWM spokesperson Cian Murtagh said ‘We’re ruling nothing out. The smells that are coming from that area are terrible the last couple of weeks, and indeed since Oxigen took over. If they can’t manage the bad smells from the existing landfill, I wouldn’t trust them to properly manage this first of a kind, high-tech massive biological treatment plant.’ (Anglo-Celt 13/11/09, p.7) Over 500 people attended the meeting at which Oxigen were accused of telling ‘a pack of lies’ about the compliance with environmental regulations of their Corranure landfill. Cian Murtagh called for no further use to be made of the site while angry residents claimed local children suffered a high level of diarrhea and stomach bugs. (Anglo-Celt 27/11/08, pp.1,9; Cavan Post 25/11/08, p.4) In December Oxigen closed the landfill to non-recyclable waste for a few weeks while measures were implemented to deal with the landfill’s odour problems. The EPA confirmed it was taking statements from local residents about the smell from the landfill, which the chairperson of CBWM said represents the first step towards prosecuting Oxigen. (Anglo-Celt 18/12/08, p.1). People living close to the Corranure landfill complained that the closure of the site over the past few weeks has not dealt with the odour problem and some residents dismissed it as a PR exercise. Meanwhile Oxigen announced it would re-open the sit to waste material in the New Year, following consultations with the EPA. (Cavan Post 30/12/08, p.7; Anglo-Celt 1/1/09, p.1) Cavan county councillors were informed at a meeting in January 2009 that remedial works at Corranure landfill were finished and the County Council was monitoring the situation to ensure these works had successfully curbed the landfill’s odour problem. However while the works were being carried out the EPA received 26 complaints from residents between December 17th and January 5th. Mary McDwyer of CBWM said ‘I actually received a written commitment from them that it would be finished and that we wouldn’t be affected by the odours over Christmas. Unfortunately it was really bad between Christmas and the New year here, and I live on the Cootehill Road about one kilometer from the landfill.’ The EPA said it is investigating the facility in co-operation with the local council and will consider all measures, including prosecution, but no final decision has been made. (Anglo-Celt 15/1/09, p.9; Cavan Post 13/1/09, p.4). While the EPA noted a decrease in the number of odour complaints regarding Corranure, down from 117 in December to 18 in January, it was still receiving complaints, with nine being noted between Sunday and Monday of the last week in January. The EPA issued a non-compliance notice to Cavan County Council, which is the licensee, though the landfill is operated by Oxigen. (Anglo-Celt 5/2/09, p.5). In February CBWM delivered its detailed objections to Oxigen’s application to the EPA to process up to 200,000 tonnes per annum of waste next to Corranure landfill in Cavan. The objection was accompanied by 2,000 signed petitions. (Anglo-Celt 12/2/09, p.7) In April 2009 CBWM members met the EPA’s director of environmental enforcement to discuss their concerns over the Corranure landfill and reported after the meeting that Corranure has been the cause of more complaints than any other landfill site in the country for the period January to March 2009. (Cavan Post 7/4/09, p.5). That same month the Cavan County Manager assured a delegation from CBWM that the 100 acres at Corranure, Co. Cavan owned by Oxigen would not be developed into a landfill after CBWM’s treasurer Mary McDwyer said the proposed sale of land to Oxigen would result in ‘Cavan town…getting a super dump on its doorstep.’ (Anglo-Celt 23/4/09, p. 5). In November CBWM welcomed a new draft licence issued by the EPA for Corranure which reduces the amount of biodegradeable waste the landfill can accept in an attempt to minimise odour problems, but called for strict enforcement. Cian Murtagh said committee members had received countless complaints over the previous weekend from residents: “they were complaining of waking up in the night, children being sick and terrible headaches. It was the worst weekend ever.” (Anglo-Celt 12/11/09, p. 1).

In March 2009 An Bord Pleanala gave the go-ahead to Dillon Waste to expand its waste disposal facility in the Kerries area overlooking Tralee Bay in Co. Kerry, which had faced formal objections by a residents’ group and nine local residents individually, despite its inspector recommending that permission for the facility be refused. (Kerryman (sic) 11/3/09, p.7)

We may finish this landfill roundup by noting other legal action taken by the EPA against current operators of landfill sites. In December 2008 a court in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway heard ten residents of Kilconnell give evidence of ‘vile and overpowering’ odour emissions in a prosecution brought by the EPA against Greenstar Recycling Holdings Ltd. for failing to comply with license conditions at their landfill in Kilconnell between August 9th and November 13th 2007. (Connacht Tribune 5/12/08, p.8). Greenstar was found guilty at Loughrea court in January 2009 of breaching its waste management licence at Kilconnell, and was fined 3,500 Euro. Greenstar also faced the prospect of paying substantial costs involved in the EPA prosecution. (Connacht Tribune 9/1/09, p.7) On June Greenstar withdrew its appeal against conviction and fines, saying while it had grounds for appeal it would drop it ‘in the spirit of co-operation and to avoid inconveniencing the site’s neighbours further’. (Connacht Tribune 12/6/09, p.2). In March 2009 the EPA issued Clare County Council with a non-compliance report for its Ballyduffbeg, Inagh landfill as 14 out of 54 odour surveys from January 31 to February 4 detected odour described as ‘moderate and impersistent’: a moderate odour is ‘easily detectable while walking and breathing normally, possibly offensive.’ (Clare Champion 27/3/09, p. 6). The following month the EPA was reported to be planning to take fresh legal proceedings against Clare County Council regarding its management of the Inagh landfill. (Clare Post 7/4/09, p.2). Clare County Council is considering closing or selling its 11 million Euro landfill at Inagh, Co. Clare, due to the declining amount of waste being dumped there. Local residents expressed the hope that the County Council would close what they described as a badly-sited ‘white elephant’. (Clare People 8/9/09, pp. 1,16; Clare Champion 11/9/09, pp.1,9).

Waste storage, transfer and recycling
This period also saw opposition grow throughout the country to plans to store, transfer and rtecuycle waste. In Ballaghadareen, Co. Roscommon, Roscommon County Council granted permission on 11th August 2008 to Barna Waste Ltd. to develop a waste transfer centre beside the landfill at Aghalustia, Ballaghadareen, which had been opposed by the Ballaghadareen Environmental Action Group (BEAG) since it was announced in February. A spokesperson for BEAG, announcing a meeting for Monday 18th August to discuss strategy, said ‘Residents have suffered for more than 20 years as a result of ongoing odour and other problems associated with the landfill facility. Ballaghadareen has three waste facilities and the fear now is that it will become the waste capital of Connaught.’ (Roscommon Herald 19/8/08, p. 1) BEAG decided unanimously at the meeting to appeal to An Bord Pleanala. BEAG announced a public meeting in Ballaghdareen on September 27th to obtain more support for the campaign. (Roscommon Champion 26/8/08, p.11) A crowd of over 60 people attended the public meeting. BEAG’s chairperson Lorraine Carroll told the meeting ‘We don’t want Ballaghadareen to become the waste capital of the west’. (Roscommon Champion 2/9/08, p.11) In January 2009 BEAG sought a meeting with the new Roscommon county manager to call for a closure date for the Ballaghdareen landfill. Myles Sweeney, BEAG spokesperson, said ‘Local households and residents have had a rough time since the opening of Cell 8 in early January. We have been engulfed with a strong odour, that can only be likened to rotten milk, for two to three weeks now.’ (Roscommon Herald 27/1/09, p. 1) In August 2009 An Bord Pleanala gave the go-ahead to Barna Waste Ltd. to construct the waste transfer station, despite objections by BEAG and the Aughaluista Residents’ Group. (Roscommon Herald 25/8/09, p. 1; Western People 25/8/09, p. 2).

Local opposition also arose in response to a proposal by Go Recycling, a subsidiary of ONE 51 group, for a planned waste transfer station at Doreen, near Castleconnell, Limerick. Local objections, from community groups, fishing clubs and fisheries conservators, centred on possible pollution, ‘intolerable’ traffic and a threat to the local fisheries. ‘Opposition to the proposal is growing. The fishermen (sic) met this week and decided to oppose the plan. Montpelier Community Group have already lodged an objection and Castleconnell boat club are very concerned too’ according to Mick Murtagh, chairperson of Montpelier Community Group. (Limerick Leader 4/10/08, p. 2) I April local groups were planning to appeal to An Bord Pleanala against a decision to grant planning permission to Go Recycling for the waste transfer station. (Limerick Leader 25/4/09, pp. 1,2).

In November 2008 the Killala Community Council submitted an appeal to An Bord Pleanala against Mayo County Council’s granting of conditional permission to Langan Skip Hire for a large recycling centre at the former Asahi factory site in Killala, Co. Mayo, which locals fear will pre-empt the proper rehabilitation of the Asahi site and act as an undesirable precedent for waste-based industries on the site, including possibly an incinerator. Another company, McGrath Waste, has submitted a proposal to An Bord Pleanala to change a disused industrial unit at the site to a waste transfer station, which it has asked the Bord to treat as ‘exempted development’, which would allow the company to avoid lodging a planning application locally and thus evade local objections. (Western Peoole 4/11/08, p.10) In April 2009 Mayo County Council granted planning permission to G&N Loftus Recycling and Sons Ltd. for a waste sorting for recycling facility at the Asahi site, an application to which Killale Community Council had objected ‘in the strongest possible terms’. (Western People 21/4/09, p.9). In June An Bord Pleanala refused planning permission for a recycling centre at the former Asahi factory after the Killala Community Council and two local residents appealed against Mayo County Council’s granting of planning permission to Langan Skip Hire last October. (Western People 2/6/09, p. 4). In December An Bord Pleanala granted permission to McGrath Industrial Waste for a change of use of the former Asahi chemical site to a waste recycling centre, a proposal which had been opposed by local residents and the Asahi Development Committee. (Western People 8/12/09, p. 12).

Up to 150 residents met in Farranfore, Co. Kerry in November 2008 to form the Scart/Caherdean Concerned Residents’ Committee to oppose an application by Kerry Central Recycling facility Ltd. to build a waste transfer and recycling station on the main Killarney to Farranfore road. Local resident Sharon Payne said ‘The planning application has been lodged for some time but we have only just become aware of it. There is also a rumour that phase two might include incineration and we are very concerned.’ (Kerryman (sic)(South) 26/11/08, p.1; The Kingdom 25/11/08, p.1) Almost 130 objections were received by Kerry County Council to the proposal. (Kerryman (sic), 17/12/08, p.30). In August 2009 Kerry County Council refused permission for the recycling facility. (Kerryman (sic) (North) 26/8/09, p. 10).

Local residents staged a one-hour protest in December 2008 at Hackballscross, Co. Louth and held a public meeting on December 9th over concerns that buildings erected by local landowner Paul Devlin would be used to store waste. Mr. Devlin has previously applied for planning permission for a resource recovery facility in November 2005, December 2006 and March 2007: the first two applications were refused and he withdrew the third application. Frank Woods, spokesperson for the Hackballscross Residents’ Association said there was ‘a lot of anger in the area about the project’. (Dundalk Democrat 10/12/08, p.13).

In December 2008 a group of local residents appealed to An Bord Pleanala against a decision by Offaly County Council to grant permission to Guessford Ltd. for a waste transfer facility at Coolraine, Tullamore, Co. Offaly. Larry Lynam, chairperson of the local group, said ‘We believe that the development would set a precedent for similar industrial developments in rural areas and would have a serious impact upon the rural environment of the immediate area’. Concerns about water pollution from the project stem from the site being located beside the Silver river and between the acquifers of the Rahan Public Water Scheme and the Tullamore Public Water Scheme. ((Tullamore Tribune 10/12/08, p.1).

In December 2008 also Wexford County Council ignored local objections and granted planning permission to Greenstar for a ‘materials recovery and transfer facility’ at Clovass, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford. Residents may appeal the decision to An Bord Pleanala. (Enniscorthy Guardian 10/12/08, p.12).

In March 2009 An Bord Pleanala upheld objections by the Kilchreest Concerned Residents and Parents Group and others against a decision by Galway County Council to grant permission to Walsh Waste Ltd. for a waste recycling facility at Eskershanore, Kilchreest, Co. Galway. (Connacht Tribune 27/3/09, p. 18).

In April 2009 a meeting of local residents at Curraha Hall expressed opposition to a proposal to set up a recycling and waste storage facility on a 40-acre site at Crickstown, Co. Meath. (Meath Chronicle 25/4/09, p. 8).

In April 2009 local residents appealed to An Bord Pleanala against planning permission granted by Cavan County Council to Wilton Waste Recycling Ltd. for a recycling centre at Bunancory, Virginia, Co. Cavan. (Anglo-Celt 23/4/09, p. 3).

In June 2009 An Bord Pleanala refused Clare Waste and Recycling Ltd. permission to relocate and extend an existing waste recycling facility at Ballymalone, Tuamgraney, Co. Clare, after planning permission granted by Clare County Council was appealed by local residents. (Clare Champion 26/6/09, p. 6). The following November An Taisce raised concerns over an application by Clare Waste & Recycling Co. Ltd. for retention and completion of a recycling facility at Tuamgraney, Co. Clare. (Clare Champion 6/11/09, p. 12).

A meeting was called in February 2009 in response to an application to Laois County Council for planning permission for a massive recycling facility at the Derries, Ballybrittas, Co. Laois, by A1 Metal Recycling of Mountmellick, intended to handle 600,000 tonnes annually, some 50-60% of the country’s waste metal. Local resident John Crowley stressed the plant involves a danger of ground water contamination from a site that is a cut over bog on an acquifer. (Leinster Express 4/2/09, pp.1, 4). The meeting, which was attended by over 100 people from the Ballybrittas and Emo area, heard angry exchanges between concerned members of the public and the proposers of the metal recycling plant. The meeting’s chairperson, Anne Burke, said the meeting was called to air local concerns over the effects of the proposals by A1 Metal Recycling, which another organizer of the meeting, John Crowley, said was a subsidiary of investment company One51, ‘a spin off of IAWS co-op’. (Laois Nationalist 13/2/09, p.3).

Organic waste and sludge disposal
Plans for new organic waste and disposal facilities ran into trouble also, as did various means of disposing of sludge and landfill leachate. For sludge disposal, in April 2009 Galway County Council ordered Kilkenny-based company Land Organics to cease transfer of sludge from Mutton Island sewage plant in Galway for spreading on farmland in Eyrecourt, Co. Galway, two years after locals –organised in the East Galway Anti Sewage-Sludge Committee- began a campaign against the practice. (Connacht Tribune 24/4/09, p. 4). The following July Vincent Maloney from Enniscrone. Co. Sligo, chairperson of the Independent Farmers’ Federation, citing health concerns, called for councils to ban the spreading of sewage sludge from municipal waste water treatment plants on farm land under River Basin Management Plans. (Sligo Weekender 7/7/09, p. 12).

Meanwhile, the Ballinasloe Environmental Alliance (BEA), founded in 2007 to campaign on pollution issues related to the Premier Proteins plant, held a meeting 21st August 2008to intensify its campaign of opposition to a proposal by OneBio Ltd. (a subsidiary of the parent company of Premier Proteins) to set up a sludge drying plant next to Premier Proteins meat rendering plant at Poolboy, which is intended to accept 30,000 tonnes per annum of wet sludge from waste treatment plants, as well as an unspecified amount of sludge from private industry. Locals are concerned over possible odour pollution and potential pollution of the river Suck, which is 200 metres from the site, especially given existing Premier Proteins’ existing operations which have resulted in a huge number of complaints over odour pollution and led the EPA to bring the company to the local district court next month over licence breaches, including pollution of the river. BEA Secretary Anita Killeen told the meeting ‘We have suffered for years at the hands of Premier Proteins and there has to come a time when the people of Ballinasloe stand up and say they have had enough.’ (Connacht Tribune 22/8/08, p. 6) 31 separate objections were lodged with Ballinasloe Town Council against the application, including objections from the Poolboy Community Development Council (with around 140 signatures), Creagh Community Development Council (over 100 signatures) and Creagh National School. (Connacht Tribune 29/8/08, p.2) The Ballinasloe Town Manager told town councilors that they could not re-zone 4 acres of land next to the Premier Proteins rendering plant which is subject to a planning application for the sludge treatment plant. Councillors were considering submissions on the new Town Plan, which included a request from the BEA that the lands be de-zoned, while Poolboy Community Development Council asked that they be returned to their original agricultural zoning. (Connacht Tribune 16/1/09, p.15). In April BEA dismissed the response by OneBio Ltd. to a request for further information from Ballinsaloe Town Council, saying ‘it certainly goes no way to alleviate the fears upon which our objections are based’. (Connacht Tribune 10/4/09, p.15). In May Ballinasloe Town Council turned down the application. The BEA warned at a public meeting that the developers were likely to appeal the decision to An Bord Pleanala. (Connacht Tribune 8/5/09, p. 10). One Bio Ltd. then appealed the refusal, which was expected to result in an oral hearing, for which BEA engaged the services of consultant Jack O’Sullivan, while BEA PRO Paul Madden met independent MEP Marian Harkin, who promised help on the issue if it needs to be raised in a European context. (Connacht Tribune 19/6/09, p. 7)

In August 2008 over 30 objections were lodged against an application for planning permission by Wilton Waste Recycling to change the use of an existing mushroom compost plant at Carnagh Upper, Kilcogy, Co. Cavan, to an organic materials composting plant. Opposition to the plan was spearheaded by the Erne Valley Residents’ Association, which held a well-attended public meeting in August and distributed leaflets locally citing concerns over health and pollution, noise, odours and increased traffic. (Source: The Anglo-Celt 28/8/08, p.2) The application was later withdrawn. (Anglo-Celt 10/9/09, p. 8)

In March 2009 Nick Nicholson, PRO of the Stackallen Boyne Action Group which campaigned against the proposed Royal Mushrooms composting plant at Causetown, Stackallen, Co. Meath, said there was a ‘huge sense of relief’ locally at the An Bord Pleanala decision to refuse planning permission, saying the proposal had led to ‘an extraordinary coming together of the local community’ in opposition to the composting plant. (Meath Chronicle 7/3/09, pp. 1.6).

The same month the Kinaleck Environment Group (KEG) protested outside the March 9th meeting of Cavan County Council complaining of odour problems with the Foxfield Mushrooms’ compost yard at Omard, Kinaleck, Co. Cavan. KEG chairperson Geraldine Hartin said ‘At one stage [the smell] was so bad we couldn’t even open our windows and it was coming in the vent in the dryer’ while KEG secretary Margaret Tully said ‘we believe the smell is causing health problems.’ (Cavan Post 10/3/09, p.4). Cavan County Council is to meet with the EPA in relation to continuing obnoxious smells from a mushroom compost yard at Ormard, following representations from KEG. Speaking at the Council’s April meeting Councillor Pauline Mccauley said problems with the yard have occurred since the Monaghan Mushrooms-owned plant extended the operation eleven years ago without planning permission. When the company applied for and obtained retention An Bord Pleanala stipulated a waste management licence should be obtained. A draft licence was issued in 2003 but the company then said they didn’t need a licence as they intended to close the operation. The yard is currently operating without a licence. (Anglo-Celt 30/4/09, p. 9).

In April Foynes Community Council (FCC) agreed to appeal to An Bord Pleanala against permission given by Limerick County Council to Greenport Environmental, a subsidiary of Mr. Binman, for an organic waste facility in Foynes, Co. Limerick. (Limerick Leader 4/4/09, p. 10). Following a meeting in July, the FCC decided to object to a plan by Greenport Environmental, for a treatment plant for up to 50,000 tonnes of organic waste at Foynes. FCC had already appealed another plan by the same company for a compost plant at the same location to An Bord Pleanala. (Limerick Leader 11/7/09, p. 10). In December Clare county councillors were invited to attend a meeting called by FCC regarding a composting facility in Foynes, Co. Limerick, which An Bord Pleanala has permitted, but the meeting was cancelled due to a local tragedy. (Clare Champion 4/12/09, p. 5).

Shellfish farmers, finfish farmers, fishing people and local residents of Derrinumera, near Newport, Co. Mayo celebrated in September 2008 when An Bord Pleanala refused permission to Mayo County Council to pump treated leachate from Mayo’s largest landfill site at Derrinukmera into Clew Bay, which is an important shellfood and seafood production area, as well as a salmon fishery. (Source: Connaught Telegraph 30/9/08, pp.1a,2a,5a).

Up to 40 people from Carraroe picketed Galway County Hall in January 2009 to object to plans to site a sewage treatment plant at a scenic peir at An Sruthan. The campaign, led by Coiste Cheibh an tSruthain, began almost a year ago when 300 people attended a public meeting in Carraroe where concerns about the site were raised. (Connacht Tribune 30/1/09, p.10). Some 200 people attended a public rally in Carraroe, Co. Galway in February calling for the relocation of the proposed sewage treatment plant. The following Tuesday members of the local Pier Development Committee met Department of the Environment officials in Leinster House: a spokesperson said they succeeded in presenting their concerns to the officials, while stressing the opposition was not to the sewage treatment plant but to its location. (Connacht Tribune 13/2/09, p. 2). Later that month the An Suthan Pier Committee welcomed the news that Galway County Council is withdrawing its application to site a sewage treatment plant close to the pier in Carraroe. (Connacht Tribune 27/2/09, p.6).

Waste incineration
On the incineration front, September 2008 saw work start on the site of the 130 million Euro Indaver incinerator at Carranstown, Duleek, Co. Meath which was opposed bitterly by the local community in a campaign that lasted 10 years, and was expressed in over 4,000 individual objections to the original application for planning permission. Construction is expected to last two years. Pat O’Brien of the local campaign group the No Incineration Alliance (NIA) warned the incinerator would have a negative ands serious effect on the health and wellbeing of local residents and called for an independent baseline study to be completed as soon as possible: ‘We have been calling for baseline studies plus a proper detailed health impact assessment for some time now and Minister Gormley should ensure they are completed as soon as possible and certainly before construction is completed’ (Source: Meath Chronicle 13/9/08, p.3) Indaver Ireland, the company behind the waste incinerator at Carranstown, Duleek, Co. Meath is seeking a review of its waste licence from the EPA to allow for increased capacity at the plant. Local election candidate Paul O’Brien, associated with NIA for over ten years, called for a fully staffed EPA office in the area to monitor and regulate the Indaver operation. (Meath Chronicle 7/5/09, p. 3). In July Indaver signed contracts for the construction of the main phase of the incinerator at Carranstown,. Construction was expected to begin within the following few weeks. (Meath Chronicle 4/7/09, p. 6). Meanwhile, Cork County Council decided in February 2009 to recommend to An Bord Pleanala that it should refuse permission for Indaver’s proposed hazardous and non-hazardous waste incinerator in Cork Harbour. (Corkman (sic), 12/2/09, p.16). As a result of the Duleek incinerator, a public meeting was called for Wednesday September 30th in The Naul, Co. Dublin, over the proposal by Murphy Environmental to locate a facility there to treat hazardous ash from the Indaver incinerator at Duleek. (Meath Chronicle 3/10/09, p. 15).

Another incinerator proposal, near Kill, Co. Kildare, was defeated. During the campaign a public meeting in November 2008 organized by Rathcoole Against Incinerator Dioxins (RAID), prior to an An Bord Pleanala oral hearing starting on November 12th, heard criticism of the proposal by Energy Answers International (EAI) to locate a 200 million Euro incinerator at a quarry site near Kill, Co. Kildare, from a physicist, a biochemist, a barrister and the PRO for RAID, Liam McDermott. Speakers claimed the incinerator would not meet forthcoming air quality guidelines, while describing the company’s Environmental Impact Statement as weaker than those submitted for incinerators in Poolbeg, Dublin and Co. Meath: ‘It seemed that some of it was a cut and paste job from a similar assessment done in the US’ physicist Joe McCarthy told the meeting. Residents were urged to attend the oral hearing at the Green Isle Hotel to show their opposition to the proposal. (Leinster Leader 6/11/08, p. 8) At last week’s oral hearing a proposed incinerator was attacked as dangerous to human and animal health by racehorse trainer Ted Walsh, called unnecessary as a regional incineration site was already planned for Poolbeg, while scientist Deborah McDermott asked where the toxic waste from the incineration process would be disposed of and Tallaght Community Council secretary Jim Lawlor said incinerator emissions would be carried to Naas and Tallaght. (Leinster Leader 27/11/08, p.3) In February 2009 local residents expressed delight at the decision by An Bord Planala to refuse permission for the incinerator. (Leinster Leader 12/2/09, pp.1,2). EAI announced it may appeal against the refusal or submit a new application. Local opposition group PRO Liam McDermott attacked EAI claims that the refusal led to the loss of up to 380 jobs. (Leinster Leader 19/2/08, p.7).

In October 2008 Irish Cement’s plan to burn MBM (meat and bone meal) and other alternative fuel at its plant at Platin, outside Duleek, Co. Meath has led to local activists expressing fears that the area is becoming a dumping ground for ‘heavy controversial industries that nobody wants in their back yards’. Pat O’Brien of the No Incineration Alliance described Irish Cement’s plans as ‘a second incinerator for Duleek’ (Source: Meath Chronicle 25/10/08, p.3), while in March 2009 An Bord Pleanala approved plans by Illaunamanagh Ltd. to erect a 1 million Euro crematorium in Shannon, Co. Clare, despite objections from the local mayor and residents and a recommendation from the Bord’s inspector that the proposal be refused. (Clare Champion 20/3/09, p.3; Limerick Leader 21/3/09, p.15) and in September Nenagh Town Council refused Keelgrove Construction Ltd. permission for a pet crematorium at Dublin Road, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary. (Tipperary Star 17/9/09, p. 7).

Finally a long and intense battle was fought in Co. Meath. In August 2008 An Bord Pleanala turned down a request from North East Against Incineration (NEAI) to postpone an oral hearing due to begin August 26th against a meat and bone meal (MBM) incinerator proposed by College Proteins (CP) for Nobber, Co. Meath, which has been accepted by ABP under the Special Infrastructure Development Scheme. NEAI called for a two month postponement, claiming that some people who had made submissions were not informed of the hearing, while neighbouring local authorities were invited to make submissions only on July 28th, which prevented neighbouring councils from making submissions as no council meetings take place in August. (Meath Chronicle 23/8/08, p. 3) The hearing was postponed for at least a fortnight to allow adjoining local authorities time to make a submission after NEAI threatened to appeal to the High Court over the issue. (Meath Chronicle 30/8/08, p. 5) In September 2008 An Bord Pleanala rescheduled its hearing into the proposed incinerator for 17th October 2008, while the ICMSA, which has almost 1000 members in the Cavan and Meath area, declared its support for NEAI: according to its president Jackie Cahill ‘Either we stand together, or we fall separately –NEAI will be able to count on us.’ (Meath Chronicle 13/9/08 p.7) At the oral hearing the local GP described the proposal as potentially a most significant threat to the health of vulnerable groups in the local population, while Larry McEntee, founder of NEAI, alleged CP was in breach of planning conditions, its IPCC licence and waste management legislation, claiming its circumvention of proper planning procedures resulted in road spillages and odours on clothes, roads and houses. (Meath Chronicle 11/10/08, p. 12) The oral hearing was adjourned for three weeks in October after it was revealed that five acres of the site for which CP had applied for planning permission were owned by a local farmer, who had not been approached by CP to sell his land or giver permission for its development. Counsel for NEAI said ABP was not entitled to accept a revised EIS for a substantially different site, and denounced CP’s EIS as ‘riddled with factual inaccuracies’ while the groundwater findings it submitted were ‘manifestly wrong’. (Meath Chronicle 18/10/08, p.14) In November CP announced it would submit a new application to An Bord Pleanala for the incinerator. Christy O’Reilly, NEAI chairperson, responding to the news, said ‘We cannot understand how this application can come under the Strategic Infrastructure Bill. We believe that it should be dealt with through the normal planning process through Meath County Council. For a number of different reasons, there is no need for this development. There are three facilities in Meath alone that either have or will have in the future the facility to process this material.’ (Meath Chronicle 22/11/08, p. 6). NEAI launched a scathing attack on the company, which, despite being in contact with an Bord Pleanala for over a year, had been unable to formulate a valid planning application, noting ‘The community of Nobber remains overwhelmingly opposed to this proposed incinerator. Over 170 submissions representing in excess of over 7,000 active objectors were made to the board’, calling for the application to be rejected and all costs to be reimbursed to the community. (Meath Chronicle 29/11/08, p.11) In January 2009 NEAI called on An Bord Pleanala to pay back the costs incurred in its recent battle against the proposed incinerator. John Keegan of NEAI said it was important local residents were reimbursed as they believe a further planning battle against the incinerator to be imminent. He said ‘Our group has got bigger and there are lots more people getting involved. Over 100 people from the Nobber, Castletown, Meath Hill, Drumconrath, Kilmainhamwood and Kingscourt areas worked at the oral hearing because this affects us all.’ (Meath Chronicle 24/1/09, p.3) The decision by An Bord Pleanala to reject requests for costs at the aborted hearing into the incinerator angered local residents but, according to NEAI spokesperson John Keegan, it has increased their resolve: ‘Over 170 people sent in submissions to Bord Pleanala and we intend to double that if a new application is made’. (Meath Chronicle 14/2/09, p.4). In March NEAI members protested outside the hall in which CP held a poorly attended public meeting to consult over its plan to resubmit an application for its incinerator. The NEAI chairperson, Christy O’Reilly, reported a recent incident where ‘one of our members brought to the attention of the company that a lorry carrying category one material was leaking,…the company’s only response was to report to the Gardai that the person who reported it was trespassing on company property, even though they were parked at the front gate of the factory.’ (Meath Chronicle 28/3/09, p. 14). CP resubmitted its application in May 2009. The company’s project manager said the new application was largely the same as the previous one, with the mistake over land ownership rectified. NEAI intends to oppose the application and has spent the time since November fundraising. (Meath Weekender 16/5/09, p. 9). A very large crowd attended a meeting in June in Nobber, called by NEAI to encourage opposition to the proposed incinerator. (Meath Weekender 27/6/09, p. 12; Meath Chronicle 27/6/09, p. 12). John Gilroy of College Proteins wrote to the local bishop asking him to instruct a local priest to withdraw comments he had made at Mass at Meath Hill on June 21st calling for people to submit objections to the proposed incinerator. (Cavan Post 14/7/09, p. 10). Meath County Council responded to CPs’ second application by recommending to An Bord Pleanala that it should request further information on the proposal, including issues of water and waste water management. (Meath Chronicle 11/7/09, p. 3). John Keoghan, NEAI spokesperson, said that CP is refusing the groups access to the planned site, access which it had promised to facilitate. (Meath Chronicle 15/8/09, p. 3). In October NEAI took exception to claims in the EIS for CPs’ incinerator that the population of Nobber, Co. Meath, has an appreciably lower standard of educational attainment than the rest of Meath, with spokesperson Johnny Keogan describing the comments as hilarious coming from a company that applied for planning permission for an incinerator on land it didn’t own. (Meath Chronicle 10/10/09, pp.1,3). NEAI condemned An Bord Pleanala for deferring the date of the oral hearing for a week to facilitate attendance by experts for the applicants CP and for the fact that NEAI heard of the deferral at second hand. Some NEAI members had already booked time off work to attend the deferred hearing and some of their experts would not be available to appear on the new date. (Meath Chronicle 3/10/09, p. 15). A local GP in Nobber, Dr Martin White told the oral hearing that toxic emissions from the incinerator would pose a significant threat to the health of the local population, while other local residents and farmers told the hearing how odours from the company’s current operations make their lives a misery. (Meath Chronicle 31/10/09, pp. 1,8,9,10). Speaking at the hearing the NEAI chairperson claimed CP had misled the local council when it applied for a waste collection permit in 2004 and 2006, while the information in the incinerator proposal was inaccurate and misleading. A consultant for NEAI claimed the impact of the incinerator on human health was inadequately addressed in the CP EIS. (Meath Chronicle 7/11/09, pp. 12,13).