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Ballinasloe residents challenge county council decision to issue permit for waste facility
Galway Bay fm newsroom – A group of county Galway residents have secured permission from the High Court to challenge the county council’s decision to issue a waste facility permit at a facility close to their homes.
The action has been brought by members of the ‘Ballinasloe Says No’ campaign who opposed the local authority’s decision to grant a permit allowing Sean Curran of Barna Waste to operate a waste facility at Pollboy.
In proceedings against the council, the locals claim that the decision to grant the permit is flawed because of a failure to consider the possible adverse consequences and impact the facility would have on a nearby Special Area of Preservation.
The residents all live approximately 2km from the proposed facility, the High Court heard.
They claim the operator intends to carry out various activities including disposing of inert waste, as well as the recycling of inorganic materials and waste storage.
The facility is located on a 1.25-hectare site south of Ballinasloe on the floodplain of the River Suck and is approximately 1.5km away from the designated SPA- the River Suck Callows site.
The residents claim that under provisions of the EU Habitats Directive, an Appropriate Assessment (AA) of the proposed facility should have been carried out by the council before it decided to grant the permit.
However, the residents claim no AA was carried out in respect of the site.
This they allege has created a situation where there is considerable uncertainty if there would be any adverse effects to the SPA.
Mr Curran is a notice party to the action.
The matter came before Mr Justice Seamus Noonan, who on an ex parte basis, granted the residents permission to bring proceedings against the local authority.
The death has occurred of the former Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora Martin Drennan, six years after he announced his retirement on health grounds. He was aged 78.
The Galway Diocesan Office confirmed the death this (Saturday) afternoon of the Bishop and Apostolic Administrator Emeritus, who oversaw the Diocese for eleven years.
Born on January 2, 1944 in Piltown, County Kilkenny, he studied for the priesthood at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, from where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1968. His brother Michael is also a priest.
Following his ordination, he continued his studies in Rome where he was awarded a Licentiate in both sacred theology and sacred scripture. He returned to Rome in 1980 to become spiritual director at the Pontifical Irish College for the next five years.
He became a lecturer in sacred scripture at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, where he continued to teach until his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin in 1997 with responsibility for East Wicklow and South Dublin.
Following the retirement of Bishop James McLoughlin, Bishop Drennan was appointed Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora and he was installed on July 3, 2005 in Galway Cathedral.
Outgoing Cllr Terry O’Flaherty (Ind) is on course to retain her City Council seat – and top the poll in City East.
With 33% of the boxes tallied, Cllr O’Flaherty is polling strongly, particularly in Renmore.
Michael John Crowe is ahead of his running mate Alan Cheevers for the Fianna Fáil vote, according to the early figures, although that could change when Doughiska and Roscam boxes are opened.
The Green Party’s Claire Hillery is on about 7%, with Fine Gael on 10% and Sinn Fein on 5%.
The opening of boxes for the local elections began at 9am this morning in Leisureland when the tallymen (and women) kicked into gear.
As regards the Galway County Council elections, the smaller areas are being opened first which means that the four-seater Connemara North boxes will be first in the pecking order.
It will be followed by Gort-Kinvara (5 seats), Connemara South (5 seats), Athenry-Oranmore (7 seats), Ballinasloe (6 seats), Loughrea (5 seats) and finally Tuam (7 seats).
The boxes in these areas will be opened and tallied in that particular order before being transferred to the Galway Lawn Tennis Club on Threadneedle Road where the counting will commence around mid-morning.
That is when the fun will really begin – although the tallies should give a good indication as to where most of the seats are destined.
As regards the city, the Galway City East boxes were opened first, followed by Galway City Central and finally Galway City West. These votes will be transferred to the Westside Centre by around 11am for counting.
There are 39 seats on Galway County Council to be filled with 18 on Galway City Council. The City Council count is expected to conclude on Saturday night but the County Council count – with seven electoral areas to be filled – could well go into Monday.
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