The state is approaching a “make your mind up” moment when it comes to legal challenges to planning decisions, one farm organisation has warned.
As the controversy surrounding An Taisce’s decision to appeal a recent High Court ruling against it rolls on, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has pointed to what it says is the government’s responsibility in the matter.
Pat McCormack, the association’s president, said today (Monday, May 10) that the state is “fast approaching a ‘make your mind up’ moment on the question of enabling legal challenges to planning decisions that have already progressed tortuously through the planning process”.
McCormack was responding the An Taisce’s move to seek leave to appeal a High Court decision against the environmental group’s judicial review into the planning process behind a proposed Glanbia cheese manufacturing plant in Belview, Co. Kilkenny.
“The further court appeal against the Glanbia proposal at Belview is hugely concerning and damaging in terms of its uncertainty and delay over a vital project – not just for Glanbia’s suppliers but for the whole economy of the Glanbia catchment area,” McCormack argued.
“Let’s be very clear. Farm families in the Glanbia catchment will be the first to be hit by this further appeal, but the wider economy in the Glanbia regions will also feel the negative impact,” the ICMSA president remarked.
“We have a sector delivering for rural Ireland and there are no viable alternatives to this sector; but it appears that some people are intent on stopping its sustainable progress.”
According to McCormack, the issue is one of “national importance” and the government is required to intervene.
“While recognising the separation of powers between government and the courts, the [former] needs to bring the two parties together, identify the issues of concern, and deliver an outcome that will allow this project to proceed without any further delay,” he argued.
“We are getting to a stage where the development of rural Ireland is being effectively managed by non-elected people – the Glanbia situation is the latest example of this – and it has to stop.
“Our government needs to govern and, from a farmer perspective, this means immediate action to deliver this project without further delays and in a way that allows rural Ireland to utilise its natural advantages and support rural jobs and a viable long-term rural economy,” McCormack concluded.