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30 August 2005
Green TD’s visit Blessington to investigate threat to Dublin’s drinking water supply
Green Party TD’s representing Dublin and Dún Laoghaire, John Gormley and Ciarán Cuffe are visiting Blessington today on a fact-finding mission to investigate the threat posed to the Dublin region’s drinking water. |
In a recent submission to An Bord Pleanála, Dublin City Council’s Senior Executive Engineer expressed serious concerns about the threat to the water supply due to recent planning decisions by Wicklow County Council.
After touring key sites in the Blessington area, the Green Party TD’s attended a press conference in the Downshire Hotel, chaired by local Independent councillor Tommy Cullen, An Taisce Chairman, Frank Corcoran and Green Party councillor on Wicklow County Council, Deirdre de Burca.
Green Party Chairman John Gormley TD claimed that the recent decisions by Wicklow County Council to grant planning permission to Roadstone for a 12.58 hectare quarry at Deerpark, Blessington and to issue a Section 55 notice requiring the company to develop a lined landfill on its lands at Blessington to cater for the illegally dumped waste found there, had led to a “collapse in confidence” in the council.
Deputy Gormley said that, “The Green Party’s investigations into this issue would suggest that Wicklow County Council has failed in its statutory duty to protect the water supply of Blessington and the Dublin Region. This view is borne out by the recent decision of the Environmental Protection Agency to refuse the waste licence application by Roadstone for a landfill on its lands because of the likely impact on the local aquifer. It is also reinforced by the letter by Dublin City Council to An Bord Pleanála objecting to the granting of planning permission to Roadstone for a quarry in the area because of concerns that it would ‘affect the water quality in Poulaphouca Resevoir’. It is clearly time for the Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, to intervene because this is not just an issue for County Wicklow but is now quite clearly one of national importance.”
Deputy Ciarán Cuffe stated, “The Poulaphuca Reservoir at Blessington currently provides over half of the water for the Dublin Region and may provide a larger percentage again in the future. Development around the perimeter of the reservoir must be controlled in order to prevent pollution. Three quarters of a million people in the Dublin area get their drinking water from this source. The Green Party is campaigning to protect our drinking water, and keep it clean. If there’s more pollution entering our reservoirs, then more chemicals will be needed to purify the water. We don’t believe that companies such as Cement Roadstone Holdings should be given permission to develop quarries or dumps upstream from Dublin’s water supplies. Large-scale development is inappropriate for such a sensitive location.”
Wicklow County Councillor, Deirdre de Burca said that, “I have official documents signed by Wicklow County Council’s Director of Environmental Services stating that the water in the Blessington aquifer is polluted. We are also now being warned by Dublin City Council that Wicklow County Council’s planning decisions are posing a threat of pollution to the Dublin drinking water supplies. We need to stand up now and stop what is happening in the county.
An Taisce Chairman, Frank Corcoran, said that the recent decision of Wicklow County Council to require Roadstone to develop a landfill on its lands at Blessington above a regionally important aquifer was “inexplicable”. He pointed out that Ireland was brought before the European Court of Justice in June of this year for widespread breaches of the EU Groundwater Directive, including breaches relating to the Ballymurtagh municipal dump in County Wicklow. “It is not acceptable that Ireland is constantly hauled before the European Courts in order to protect our drinking water. The Minister for the Environment must appoint an Inspector with the powers of a Commissioner now as a matter of urgency, to look into the whole issue of illegal dumping in Blessington and Wicklow County Council’s handling of it.”
Local Independent councillor, Tommy Cullen, expressed his concerns at the fact that Wicklow County Council has not yet investigated other potentially very serious illegal dumps in the vicinity of the Poulaphuca Resevoir. “The council drew up a list of possible illegal dumps in the county in 2001 and one of these was at Russborough, near to the Poulaphuca Resevoir. Four years later, the council has not yet investigated the site, although the potential impact of any illegal waste at Russborough on the Poulaphuca Resevoir would be even more serious than that found on Roadstone’s land at Blessington.”
Cllr Cullen joined with the other speakers in calling on Minister Roche to appoint a Special Inspector to investigate illegal dumping in County Wicklow as a matter of urgency.
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