AN TAISCE WINS TEN-TEAR CASE OVER MONAGHAN QUARRY

The Supreme Court has found in favour of the environmental group An Taisce in a case in which a Co. Monaghan quarry owner was granted a form of retention of planning permission known as “substitute consent’. The Court found that the permission granted by An Bord Pleanála to John McQuaid (Quarries) Ltd at Lemgare, near Clontibret, was inconsistent with the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive of European law.

After a ten-year fight by An Taisce, the Court ruled that “it must be remembered that the underlying purpose of public participation in environmental matters is to facilitate good, fully informed decision making; it being acknowledged that the public as a whole is one of the greatest repositories of environmental information.”

According to the environmental group, this ruling closes the loophole in Ireland where quarries and other developers can avoid doing environmental impact assessments by applying for retention after work commences, instead of applying for permission…