An Taisce: We’ll take f ight all the way to halt cheese plant
AN Taisce has vowed to take its fight against the development of a €140million cheese processing plant in Co. Kilkenny all the way to the Supreme Court.
The heritage group said it will seek to appeal the High Court’s ruling from April of this year, which upheld the planning permission granted for the Slieverue plant, a joint venture between Glanbia and Dutch firm Royal A-Ware.
The court’s dismissal of challenges by An Taisce had been welcomed by the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) and Glanbia, on behalf of the 4,500 farming families who will supply milk to the plant.
Glanbia said the diversification was particularly critical post Brexit, and for Ireland’s recovery after the pandemic, and would be good for jobs and for the southeast region.
An Taisce said in a statement yesterday that it was keenly aware of the widespread concerns about the consequences for farmers who have invested heavily in the dairy sector, if it does not continue to expand in line with various Government and industry plans.
However, it said its mission as an independent charity was to protect and advocate for the future viability of the natural environment.
It said it was concerned about the impacts of intensive agriculture on water and air quality and the increasing greenhouse gas emissions from that sector.
‘It is our conviction that the original judgment raised points of law that are of exceptional public importance and which require to be appealed in the public interest,’ it said.
An Taisce said the judgment created a precedent in law that diluted the need for rigorous assessment of the environmental impacts of proposed developments at the planning stage. ‘The crucial issue is clarifying the correct level of assessment of environmental impacts required under EU law,’ it added.
It is estimated the plant will require 450million litres of milk each year and will result in higher ammonia and greenhouse gas emissions as well as further deterioration in water quality, An Taisce said.
It added that the implications of an expanded dairy industry, and the consequences for Irish rural communities, were ‘enormous and irreversible’.
‘It would thus be irresponsible of us not to seek the support of the highest court in the land to advocate for the interests of a sustainable future for nature,’ it said.
An Taisce alleged that Dutch food processors were looking to countries with more relaxed regulations and more politically powerful agriculture industry lobby groups, such as Ireland, to facilitate the intensification of dairy production that is now being blocked in the Netherlands on environmental grounds.
However, IFA president Tim Cullinan has said the Glanbia cheese plant should proceed without delay. Speaking after the most recent ruling in July, in which An Taisce was not granted permission to go to the Court of Appeal, he said: ‘The project has now been fully considered by Kilkenny County Council, An Bord Pleanála, the High Court and this latest application.
‘On each occasion, the process has found in favour of developing the plant.’ Mr Cullinan added: ‘As the most exposed sector in the country, it’s reckless of any organisation to obstruct a valid initiative that is designed to safeguard the livelihoods of farm families and the rural economy in the southeast.’
Ireland South MEP Billy Kelleher, of Fianna Fáil, described the July ruling as a ‘victory for common sense’.
‘Enough is enough, it is time to get it built,’ he said.
‘From the outset, I believed An Taisce’s case was weak.
‘They were attempting to use the planning system to change Government policy.
‘I’ve no issue with NGOs articulating and campaigning for changes in policy. It just shouldn’t be done through the planning system.’ helen.bruce@dailymail.ie
‘Enormous and irreversible’ ‘A victory for common sense’