Failed objectors should foot legal bills says Offaly TD

OBJECTORS who lose High Court cases against major developments should foot the bill for the costs, Offaly TD Barry Cowen said today.

Deputy Cowen was speaking after confirmation that beef exports to China are resuming, a move which comes as a boost to the investors planning a new meat factory in Banagher.

However, construction of the meat plant was stalled last year after two opponents of the development sought a judicial review of the Bord Pleanala decision giving it the go-ahead.

Banagher Chilling, the company behind the €40 million Chinese-backed project, must now await the outcome of the High Court proceedings.

Beef shipments to China were suspended following confirmation in May 2020 by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine of an isolated case of atypical BSE.

The department has been attempting to have the market reopened since and last week Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue said negotiations with the Chinese authorities had been successful following the provision of technical information by Ireland.

Deputy Cowen said the Chinese market has huge potential and added: It’s imperative that Government now get around to addressing the inadequacies of our current Planning and Development Act.”

The Fianna Fail TD for Laois-Offaly said he looks forward to the Government following through on its recently announced intention to address matters which are hampering, delaying and jeopardising residential and commercial development.

“The delays associated with the Glanbia cheese factory project, and now the Banagher meat plant being the subject of judicial review, despite coming through elongated planning processes at local authority and Bord Pleanala level is another example of the need for statutory timelines for planning decisions in addition to a specialist planning court rather than the present system of objectors dragging cases through and all the way to the High Court,” he said.

“I too will be pushing for the provision in law that those who do so and lose such cases be responsible for their legal costs. Such a prospect might make such parties reconsider the impact of their actions on our housing needs and commercial benefits that in this case would accrue to many farm families across our country.

“It’s imperative that we retain a planning system that's fit for purpose, can respond to [the] nation's needs and not curtailed or open to opportunistic abuse of legal system by objectors failing to recognise the impartiality and independence of that democratic planning process as appears to be the case presently.”

Deputy Cowen added that Minister McConalogue's announcement will be welcomed by the Banagher investors and he hoped it will be adequate reward for their investment, commitment and “no little patience” to date.

“They remain steadfast in their efforts to proceed for which I and the wider region are most grateful.”

He concluded: “It will, as I said all along, provide the competition that is needed in the beef trade, benefiting farm families and producers, ensuring that good quality produce is adequately priced and rewarded.”

Banagher Chilling received permission from Offaly County Council in July 2020 for an extension to an existing disused abattoir along with a larger new facility at Boheradurrow and Meenwaun, Banagher.

That decision was appealed to An Bord Pleanala and the board gave the green light for the plant in June last year.

Two objectors living locally, Desmond Kampff and Gwen Wordingham, initiated the High Court proceedings in July.

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

He said 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) and maintained this stream does not have the capacity to accommodate such discharges.

The 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).