Objectors plan EU campaign to halt quarry

A GROUP awaiting a Bord Pleanála ruling on a controversial super-quarry is poised to launch an EU campaign to halt quarrying in their area.

The planning appeals board is expected to rule within days on whether or not Healy Brothers Ltd can open a new quarry in Rossmore, near Carrigtwohill in East Cork.

The company, which operates two quarries nearby, plans to extract sand and gravel at Rossmore for export as well as extract, crush and wash limestone for use in the manufacture of concrete nearby.

Several quarries are already operating in the area.

The county council granted permission for the Healy Brothers project last year and attached 40 conditions. But following an appeal from residents led by the Carrigtwohill Environment Alliance (CEA), Bord Pleanála held an oral hearing on the project last September. A decision is expected within days.

CEA confirmed yesterday that it sent two representatives to Brussels last week, following an invitation from independent MEP Kathy Synott, on a fact-finding mission.

Peter Thompson and John Joe Harte sat in on a session of the EU’s powerful Petitions Committee which examines complaints concerning application of EU law.

Mr Thompson said the group is considering lodging a petition with the committee calling for a complete halt to further expansion of the quarrying industry in their area. Their next course of action will depend on how Bord Pleanála rules on the Healy Brothers’ project, he said.

However, any possible appeal to the Petitions Committee will not focus on that project alone.

Mr Thompson said any case the CEA may pursue at EU level will focus on the entire quarrying industry in the Carrigtwohill area.

“We will be seeking a total moratorium on quarrying in this area. Quarrying has reached total saturation point. Any more will be unsustainable,” he said.

Engineers for Healy Brothers told the Bord Pleanála hearing last September that granting the Rossmore project is crucial to secure the future of the company.

Limestone and sand and gravel reserves at its Milebush and Coppingerstown quarries will last for just another three years.

The 56-year-old family-run company employs 270 people and is dependent on this application for its very existence, the hearing was told.

Irish Examiner