Shock and anger at Knock decision

MEP Markin Harkin said this week that the An Bord Pleanala’s refusal of permission to the Department of Community Gaeltacht and Rural Affairs for the relocation of the Department and Ministerial headquarters to a site at Knock Airport, as part of the Government decentralisation programme, was a further example of how An Bord Pleanala was prepared to have different policies for the West of Ireland and Dublin West. “Despite the well founded advice of the National Roads Authority to refuse
planning permission for the IKEA development which is certain to cause further chaos on the M50, An Bord Pleanala in a weasel word permission has managed to justify a positive decision while it has plumbed the depths of shallow and wrong headed justification to refuse permission for the offices at Ireland West Airport,” she said. She urged Minister Eamon O’Cuiv to challenge the decision of An Bord Pleanala through a High Court appeal and to refuse to accept the decision of An Bord Pleanala which was a further example of “that body’s inability to acknowledge the core Government commitment to balanced regional development”.

© Roscommon Herald