Did anyone see the article “Wicklow group to endorse election candidate” by Ruadhan MacCormaic in the Irish Times on Saturday? Since reading it, I’ve been thinking again about the incredible number of objections there are to the Greystones marina plan – approx’ 6,000 – and I have been trying to put it into context. Preliminary results from Census 2006 indicate the population of Greystones Electoral Division is 7,106. This means that 6 out of 7 people over 18 in Greystones (assuming most objectors live in Greystones) are opposed to the plan. This begs the question: “What level of objection doe sit take in Ireland for a planning application to be refused?” These results are almost those of a plebiscite (A direct vote in which the entire electorate is invited to accept or refuse a proposal), i.e. the results suggest that if every person was asked to vote on the proposal tomorrow, they would all vote no. Therefore, when the Greystones Protection and Development Association states that it believes Wickow County Council is not representing the views of local people on this issue, it is hard to argue otherwise. That there are plans to run an independent candidate in the general election on this issue is no surprise.
The quality of the Greystones proposal must be assessed in light of the fact that more people have objected to it than to the Ringsend incinerator proposal, which is located in a more densely populated part of the country.
Those who wish to follow the course of the Greystones proposal as is passes through An Bord Pleanala’s assessment can follow this link:
http://www.pleanala.ie/data1/searchdetails.asp?id=6178713&caseno=EF2016
This case is due to be decided by 30-01-2007.
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