News from down the country

national | environment | news report Saturday July 25, 2009 14:50 by Contaminated Crow

Two telemasts, pylons, two waste sites, a respite house and turfcutting

Seventy people attended a public meeting in Inverin, Co. Galway, last Monday to voice concerns over the erection of a telemast at the village’s garda station. (Connacht Tribune 27/7/09, p. 6).

The Eagle Hill Mast Committee, concerned over the proposed erection of a 36-metre mast by Hutchinson 3G in Ballinamult, Co., Waterford, expects 100 objections will be lodged against the mast by closing date for objections. (Dungarvan Leader 24/7/09, p. 10).

North-East Pylon Pressure (NEPP) has accused EirGrid of planning to vastly increase the number of giant pylons and high-voltage overhead lines in the country, given their plans for a new powerline from Cork to Dublin may involve erecting a further 1000 pylons: NEPP said EirGrid ‘need to tell us the exact locations and distances of all their new 110Kv, 220Kv and 400 Kv high voltage power lines so we can have a properly informed national debate about the issues involved’. (Meath Chronicle 25/7/09, p. 7).

Grant schemes accepted by local campaigners in return for abandoning a judicial review of a Greenstar application for a landfill at Knockharley, near Kentstown, Co. Meath, are being launched at the end of the month by the Meath County Council/Knockharley Landfill Community Liaison Committee. ((Meath Chronicle 25/7/09, p. 6).

North Tipperary County Council won a legal dispute over the Shannon Vermi-composting Ltd. Site at Rathcabbin, Co. Tipperary, when the Supreme Court gave the company eight weeks to remove some 20,000 tonnes of waste from the Rathcabbin site and awarded costs to the Council. (Nenagh Guardian 25/7/09, p. 5; Midland Tribune 22/7/09, p. 2).

Some 150 local residents attended a public meeting in Newport, Co. Tipperary last week over the purchase of a house locally as a respite centre for families affected by drug abuse to be run by Novas Initiatives for the HSE. The chairperson of the Inchadrinagh Residents Association (IRA) said they had difficulty obtaining information from Novas Initiatives and the IRA called for community support to oppose the development. (Nenagh Guardian 25/7/09, pp. 1,2,15).

The Irish Homesteaders Turf Cutting Association (IHTCA) is holding a meeting in Knocktallon, Co. Monaghan on 23rd July. The IHTCA chairperson said ‘We believe that faceless bureaucrats are directing by stealth the eviction of Irish people from the bogs.’ (Monaghan Post 23/7/09, p. 14). Meanwhile Marian Harkin MEP delivered submissions from two recent meetings in Roscommon to the department working group on turfcutting. John Kelly of the Irish Turfcutters’ Association (ITA) said ‘We don’t know who is involved on the working group’ but one submission from the meetings requested that a member of the ITA should be on the working group. (Roscommon Champion 21/7/09, p. 5)