Cowen demands planning reform following High Court Banagher abattoir appeal 

 A frustrated and irritated Deputy Barry Cowen is calling for planning reform after he was told that local residents have lodged an appeal with the High Court against the going ahead of an abattoir in Banagher.

  Last week The Midland Tribune reported that Desmond Kampff and Gwen Wordingham had lodged an appeal in the High Court to reverse the go-ahead by An Bord Pleanála for a €40 million Chinese-backed meat factory a short distance from Banagher.

  Speaking to The Midland Tribune, Mr Kampff said he is “critically concerned” about the potential environmental impacts of the proposed processing plant at the site three kilometres southeast of Banagher.

  The appellants say the facility will discharge its domestic and wastewater into the nearby Feeghroe stream (which runs along the western boundary of the 19.5 hectare site). They say this stream does not have the capacity to accommodate such discharges.

  Deputy Cowen said the chilling plant saga has been dragging on way too long and it's obvious that a guillotine needs to be applied to judicial reviews on planning applications. He said the application to the High Court seeking permission for a judicial review into the granting of planning permission for the Banagher Chilling Ltd meat processing facility comes three years after the project was first proposed.

   “Ireland’s international reputation as a centre for business is being brought into disrepute by the uncertainty of its planning laws,” the Deputy said.  “Investors and multinationals can have no confidence about when a project will come to fruition due to our out-dated and anarchic planning laws.  The last Government and this one has been promising reform but the country waits like Godot for actual change.”

  Deputy Cowen said a review being done by the Attorney General should be published immediately and the Government should indicate how it intends to proceed.  "It should then do it as a matter of extreme urgency once the Dail resumes in September," he remarked, "or sooner if needs be, to have the time and space to process legislation vital to the country’s reputation.”

 He added that the saga with the Banagher meat plant follows the two-year planning battle on the Glanbia plant that continued until the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal after another prolonged process.  "Planning needs reform.  It has been talked about endlessly and the time for action has come.”

  Mr Kampff describes himself as being active in local environmental protection. He told the Midland Tribune that the Feeghroe stream regularly floods during the winter. He showed us two photographs of this flooding, one in December 2019, the other in February 2020. He said he and Ms Wordingham (and other local residents) are concerned that during these flooding incidents the water table will become contaminated by run-off from the abattoir.

  Last month, An Bord Pleanála granted permission for Banagher Chilling Limited to build a large expansion to a pre-existing, disused plant. This plant was built in the 1990s and was also an abattoir. It's been non-operational for several years. The proposed site is located beside Five Roads Cross which is the junction of the R438 Borrisokane to Cloghan road and a local road (the L3010 which connects Banagher with Kinnitty). The location is about three kilometres south-east of Banagher. Eliza Lodge nursing home is 120 metres to the west and the closest house is 400 metres away.

  The new facility will have the capacity to slaughter 36,000 animals a year. Its inspector found the proposed development would “not be likely to have a significant negative environmental impact in terms of climate”.

  Mr Kampff said he often walks beside the Feeghroe Stream and as he's walking he's often worrying about the possible pollution when the new plant opens. He said he has the support of people living in the vicinity for the High Court appeal.

He argued that during this era of Climate Change, opening a major abattoir which could possibly pollute the environment, is going against a lot of contemporary thinking about the kind of industries we should be operating.

He said he is not against the beef industry, “but I think they made a mistake not creating a cooperative structure. The dairy industry set up a cooperative structure but the beef industry failed to follow suit.”

The granting of permission by An Bord Pleanála came almost two years after Mr Kampff and Ms Wordingham lodged an appeal against Offaly County Council’s grant of permission.

 Their High Court action against An Bord Pleanála, with the developer on notice, is grounded on a number of domestic and European legal points.

The matter was briefly mentioned before Mr Justice Charles Meenan two weeks ago by John Kenny BL, instructed by Eoin Brady of FP Logue solicitors. The case will return before the court in November.