By Andy Spearman
A decision by An Bord Pleanala (ABP) not to hold an oral hearing into planning permission granted by Meath County Council allowing Dawn Meats to pump waste water from their factory near Slane into the River Boyne has angered people throughout Meath, Louth and further afield.
The notion of pouring 400,000 litres of waste water from the meat factory into the Boyne was deeply unpopular from the word go.
An online petition organised by the ad hoc protest group “Save the Boyne” was signed by over 7,000 people despite assurances from the company that they are “committed to environmental sustainability” and that their state of the art water treatment plant would produce “compliant” water.
The obvious response was: “if your waste water is so clean and you are so committed to environmental sustainability, why not recycle it for use in your meat plant rather than dumping it in the river?
ABP states that it is at their discretion whether or not to hold an oral hearing. Those who made submissions were charged 50 euro for this request each. But ABP says it believes it has enough information in the submissions and observations to continue the decision making process behind closed doors.
Spokesperson for the Save The Boyne Group, Tommy Martin, said: “What ABP do not understand is that not only is this an issue of local and National importance which could have an impact for generations to come, it is also an issue of transparency.
“ABP need to understand that the decision making process and the evidence needs to be aired in public. This will allow for some transparency in the decision making process.
“More importantly, it will allow scrutiny by the public, environmentalists, politicians and those whose lives may be impacted by the decision of ABP.
“To dismiss the request for appeal on grounds cited by ABP is not only insulting to the many hundreds of households who placed objections with Meath County Council but also to those who have rallied behind the Save the Boyne Group and have made their views and voices heard on the streets, social media and the riverbanks.
“There are many aspects of the campaign against the Dawn Meats proposal which cannot be conveyed in submissions or observations. An oral hearing would have permitted those who know and understand the river Boyne to have their voices heard.
“Locals and river users can see the change in the water levels over the past few weeks, particularly below the proposed discharge point.
“The people of Louth – Meath have been poorly served by the planning Department in MCC to allow this to go forward. Again the people of Louth – Meath have been denied transparency and an opportunity to make their views known.
“Save The Boyne requests that ABP reverse its decision and allow for disclosure in a public forum. What have they to lose or more importantly what do they fear?”
Drogheda Labour TD Ged Nash, who has been opposed to the Dawn Meats waste water pipe since it was first mooted, said that he sometimes wonder on what planet An Bord Pleanala lives.
“To be told that a plan to pump tens of thousands of litres of treated effluent from a meat factory into our river does not involve ‘significant local or national issues’ really is something else” he said.
“Tell that to the hundreds of locals who have marched, attended meetings and made submissions and the thousands of citizens who have registered their protest through petitions and via support online.
“This questionable decision by the planning board to refuse an oral hearing on the issues at stake is to take an anti-science position. What are they afraid of hearing? It seems that the Board is dismissing objectors and the clear scientific and environmental case we have made.
“It is in the interests of science, the environment and most of all transparency that the arguments made by both sides in this case should be interrogated openly, in public, through an oral hearing. There is too much at stake for this not to happen.”
Another local TD, Fine Gael’s Fergus O’Dowd said that he too was very disappointed that the request for an oral hearing has been refused.
“In this instance and with consideration to the very significant volume of submissions that were received from the public I feel an oral hearing should have been facilitated” he said. “I have written to An Bord Pleanala outlining my concerns accordingly.”
“The public deserve more accountability from An Bord Pleanala on issues of such importance” he said and added that, as a notice party to the overall appeal, he will continue to support the Save the Boyne campaign in any way he can.
Peter Whelan, Aontú representative in the Laytown Bettystown area, told Drogheda Life that he was “devastated but not surprised” with the response of An Bord Pleanala.
“With the recent controversy regarding board members, I feel that the public have lost all respect and trust in the Bord” he said.
“I feel all decisions pending and previous decisions should be looked at by an independent body set up by members of the Dail . The current set up is not fit for practice and should be disbanded.”
