Magnier and O'Brien take incinerator case

Racehorse trainer Mr Aidan O'Brien and Mr John Magnier's Coolmore Stud are to begin legal proceedings in the High Court tomorrow against a proposed incinerator near their properties in Co Tipperary.

The two parties are to apply for a judicial review of South Tipperary County Council's decision to grant planning permission for the proposed incinerator near Rosegreen to National By-Products for the disposal of animal waste.

Lawyers for Mr O'Brien and Coolmore and Castle Hyde Associated Stud Farms, in whose names tomorrow's review is being taken, are expected to argue that the local authority breached EU law in granting permission without first assessing the incinerator's environmental impact.

The case has been lodged against the county council, An Bord Pleanála, the Attorney General and National By-Products. If the application proves successful, a full hearing on the legality of the local authority's decision will take place, and this may result in the waste disposal company having to reapply for planning permission.

Since permission was granted last May, strong opposition has emerged to the incinerator from political and business representatives and local residents. More than 18,500 people signed a petition, which was organised by local umbrella group South Tipperary Anti-Incinerator Campaign (STAC), against the development.

Those backing the campaign include 40 GPs and 120 veterinary surgeons, farming bodies the IFA and ICMSA, the Taoiseach's special adviser Mr Martin Mansergh, businessman Mr Tony Ryan, racehorse-owner Mr Michael Tabor, composer Andrew Lloyd Weber, and Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, whose record-breaking colt Rock of Gibraltar is in training with Mr O'Brien.

The trainer, whose Ballydoyle stables are only a kilometre away from the proposed incinerator, has threatened to leave Ireland if the development goes ahead.

The Environmental Protection Agency is to make a decision shortly on whether to grant a licence for the incinerator. An Bord Pleanála is, meanwhile, to hold an oral hearing into the proposed development. A date for the hearing has yet to be announced although it is expected to take place before the end of year.

A spokesman for National By-Products said the company was happy to await the findings of the EPA and An Bord Pleanála. "The bottom line, we are saying, is let's judge it on its merits, and take emotion out of it," he said. The incinerator, described by the company as a "green energy project", would be the first in the State designed to burn meat and bone meal. Presently, such waste is kept in storage or exported to the UK and Germany.

The company spokesman noted that the technology which would be used at the plant was already in use at three sites in the UK, and management expertise from these sites would be brought to Tipperary to help set up the Irish operation.

The STAC is to hold a public meeting at Hotel Minella, Clonmel at 8 p.m. on September 18th, to garner further support for its campaign. Addressing the meeting will be Prof David Taylor, a UK food safety expert whose research suggests the BSE prion which carries mad cow disease is not killed by incineration.

Local opposition centres not just on alleged health risks arising from emissions from the incinerator but on the manner in which planning permission was granted.