Donegal consultation opens on proposed goldmine in Tyrone

A public consultation on a proposed goldmine in County Tyrone has now opened on this side of the border after Donegal campaigners torpedoed a public inquiry in the North back in January for failing to consult people living in Donegal about the project.

Advertisements outlining the details of the new consultation were published in the Irish Examiner and Irish Times newspapers on Wednesday. 

Earlier this year, the North's Department of Infrastructure organised a public inquiry into an application from Dalradian Gold Ltd to extend its mining activities near Omagh, but failed to properly notify authorities in the Republic as is required under transboundary consultation agreements.

In January the Inishowen Independent reported that local environmental campaigners, including Rose Kelly from Rights of Nature Donegal, were dissatisfied with the lack of consultation on this side of the border given concerns that the discharge of pollutants from the mine into the headwaters of the River Finn could pollute Lough Foyle.

Just three days into what was supposed to be a three-month public inquiry in Omagh's Strule Theatre, chairperson Jacqueline McParland suspended proceedings to allow cross-border consultations after the North's Department for Infrastructure admitted it had failed to meet its own legal obligations.

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That consultation has now opened and the deadline for written submissions and observations is Wednesday 23 April. 

While queries into the transboundary environmental impact assessment consultation can be directed to Donegal County Council, the written observations and submissions must be made to the planning authorities in the North.