Connacht Tribune
Campaign raises €60,000 for legal battle against Gort biogas plant
More than €60,000 has been raised in less than a week to mount a legal challenge to the highly controversial Gort Biogas plan.
A public meeting in the town last week attracted over 400 residents opposed to the €40 million facility after An Bord Pleanála issued its shock decision to grant planning permission – overturning Galway County Council’s refusal a little under three years ago.
The meeting was organised by the Gort Biogas Concern Group, which vehemently opposes to plans to develop the biogas plant on a 25-acre site just one mile outside the town.
A spokesperson for the group told the Connacht Tribune this week that after six days, over €60,000 had been gathered through online donations and commitments from various local sources.
And Ciarán O’Donnell said thanks to this generosity, legal representation had been secured and they were preparing to launch a judicial review of the Board’s decision to grant permission to Donegal-based Sustainable Bio-Energy Ltd’s plans.
“We’ve had phenomenal support and to raise that much in six days just shows how much this matters to people. We have had everything from a kid in third class putting in €5 to people who are in a position to donate more putting in significant amounts. It has struck a chord with everyone.
“To get 400 people out to a meeting on wet night in early January just shows how committed people are to stopping this from happening,” said Mr O’Donnell.
The biogas facility, which was given the go-ahead by An Bord Pleanála just two days before Christmas, is to be constructed on lands in the townlands of Ballynamantan, Kinincha and Glenbrack – an area of significant environmental importance, he continued.
In addition, he said the development would “destroy the town” of Gort and such were local concerns that businesspeople were standing up at the meeting last week offering up donations to fight the planning permission in court.
“People were shocked at An Bord Pleanála’s decision because it seems totally dismissive of these concerns and makes huge assumptions about the lack of impact the biogas plant would have, without any facts to back them up.
“You’d have to wonder if they even read the submissions that were made, from bodies like the EPA and those of local people,” said Mr O’Donnell.
He said the Concern Group was “full steam ahead” with the judicial review as of yesterday (Wednesday), and legal representation had been engaged.
Meanwhile, local TD Ciarán Cannon (FG) launched a stinging criticism of An Bord Pleanála this week, branding their decision to overturn Galway County Council’s ruling as “appalling”.
“I’m at a complete loss as to why this appalling decision was taken by An Bord Pleanála. It flies in the face of proper planning and development and completely dismisses the very serious concerns expressed by senior planners in Galway County Council,” said Deputy Cannon.
On five separate occasions in their decision, County Planners said the proposals were contrary to proper planning of this rural area, he continued, raising concerns about dangerous traffic movements, injury to local amenities and the lack of detail in the applicant’s environmental impact assessment.
“All of these concerns, expressed by highly experienced planners who know our county well, were just brushed aside in a manner that defies logic. I am completely supportive of local community activists who are now left with no option but to take legal action to protect Gort and its future,” said Deputy Cannon.
The concept of biogas production was not at issue, he said, but rather the scale of what was being proposed.
“It’s the size of 14 soccer pitches. It would have 12 massive tanks on site, each with a capacity of two Olympic swimming pools, and all of this is proposed for a location ten metres from the Gort River and constructed on highly porous limestone rock.
“It would require transporting 350 tonnes of feedstock into the site every working day and the spreading of two swimming pools of slurry every week during slurry spreading season. It’s just mind boggling what’s being proposed here and our local planners acted correctly in refusing permission for it,” said the Galway East TD.
(Image: last week’s public meeting. Photo by John Morley/Galway Bay FM)
Connacht Tribune
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Connacht Tribune
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Connacht Tribune
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.