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Dún Laoghaire, Environment, Justice and Latest Press Releases

9 May 2005 

 Bord Pleanála reforms must allow for incinerator appeals

"The Green Party has stated that any reforms to An Bord Pleanála must ensure that a fully independent appeal system is put in place for incinerators. The Party was responding to reports that An Bord Pleanála will be reformed in order to consider major infrastructural projects separately from other Planning Appeals.

Currently the Planning Appeals Board only deals with the physical planning aspects of such projects. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) deals with the environmental aspects of such proposals. The Green Party has expressed concerns about this in the past.

Green Party spokesperson on the Environment Ciarán Cuffe TD stated that, “Currently the EPA issues draft Integrated Pollution Control Licenses (IPCL) on major projects. However the EPA also consider the appeals for IPCL applications. Any reform of the planning process should ensure that the power of the EPA to act as judge and jury on such licenses is removed.”

 “I believe that the EPA should issue draft licenses and the Board should be given the power to consider appeals. This would be similar to the procedure whereby Local Authorities consider Planning Applications and they then can be appealed independently to the Planning Appeals Board.” 

The Green Party has also stated that any reforms should ensure that the independent appeals process for Planning Applications is maintained.

 “The right to appeal decisions of the Local Authority is a hallmark of the Irish planning system. It is crucial that this process is not diluted or removed in the case of major projects.”

 “If the Government wishes to speed up the processing of major projects it should ensure that the Board, the EPA and Local Authorities are given adequate resources to consider applications in a timely and adequate manner.”

 “We welcome the decision to drop the Critical Infrastructure Bill, but remain concerned that the Government may be considering a reduction in the democratic input into the making of planning decisions.”

 “We all want to see critical infrastructural projects completed in a reasonable time, but not at the cost of normal democratic rights. The Green Party was always critical of the Government’s attempt to steamroll through planning proposals for projects like incinerators without allowing the public to appeal them.”

 “The Minister for Justice announced before Christmas that this Bill would be dropped. Yet the Taoiseach announced in the Dáil it wasn’t being abandoned. Given that the Taoiseach is so fond of blaming environmental groups for stalling infrastructural developments, it is interesting to note that this delay in dropping the Bill is the result of yet another territorial spat between Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats,” concluded Deputy Cuffe.

END