The delay in bringing a new cheese plant into production due to planning objections made by An Taisce is “greatly disappointing and concerning”, the Irish Cooperative Organisation Society (ICOS) has said.
In a statement, ICOS noted An Taisce’s intention to appeal the High Court’s decision to uphold the granting of planning permission to Glanbia for the construction of a new cheese manufacturing plant in Glanbia Belview, Co. Kilkenny.
The organisation called on An Taisce to “reverse its decision to appeal the judgement” and “enter into a process of dialogue” instead.
The co-op representative group said: “ICOS is not disputing the right of any individual or organisation to appeal planning decisions, and we respect their statutory role in the planning process.
“That said, we strongly believe that their concerns have been considered fairly and thoroughly by Kilkenny County Council, An Bord Pleanála and the High Court.
“The continuation of the process by seeking leave to appeal, only serves to unduly add further delay to a valuable economic project, with direct implications for thousands of farm families.
“It is our balanced view that An Taisce is using its privileged position in the planning process to pursue policy positions that fail to take into consideration the full economic, social and environmental implications of those positions – a role and function of the government,” ICOS said.
Voicing its concerns that the ongoing “severe” delay to the project is “putting the ability of the dairy sector to attract future foreign direct investment at immediate risk”, ICOS said that such delays have caused “significant implications for the proposed project and the farm families supplying Glanbia”.
“It is greatly worrying that An Taisce appear to be using the planning process to campaign for their stated positions.
“We believe that these policy positions are wrong and unfairly seek to undermine the right of farm families to profitably pursue milk production in a sustainable manner, in line with EU and national polices.
“It is also deeply worrying to see the increase in planning observations by the same organisation, An Taisce, to individual farm planning applications.”
On another note, it was argued:
“What An Taisce overlooks in its public commentary relating to the dairy sector, is that unlike the FDI [foreign direct investment] economy such as IT and data centres, the dairy sector makes a deeper contribution to the local economy, as every €1 of dairy sector exports represents a 90c spend in the Irish economy.
This, ICOS says, is in contrast to the multinational sector, “which has a corresponding figure of 10c spend in the Irish economy for every €1 exported”.
The co-op group called on An Taisce to reverse its decision to appeal the judgement of the High Court and invited An Taisce “to enter into a process of dialogue”.