Little more than a month before the Supreme Court hearing on the issue, the temperature is rising over plans to build a sewage treatment plant at Mutton Island in Galway Bay. Late last week, Galway Chamber of Commerce marked a Government Minister's visit with a strong public pronouncement that the time for talking and discussion was over.
Speaking at the chamber's new year reception in Galway Airport, which was attended by the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, and Junior Ministers Mr Bobby Molloy and Mr Frank Fahey, the chamber's president, Mr Michael Hegarty, called on the Save Galway Bay Group and Druid actor Ray McBride to withdraw the court action over the location of a waste water treatment facility on the island.
The Supreme Court appeal is listed for February 25th. The action, being pursued solely by Mr McBride, seeks to reverse an earlier decision by the High Court in favour of Galway Corporation, which wants to build on Mutton Island. His legal team has attempted to establish that Galway Corporation was acting outside the terms of EU directives.
"Our members, the people of this city, our industry and tourism, cannot wait another three years for a resolution," said Mr Hegarty. "Can we continue to allow a small group - with no mandate from the public - to hold up progress of an entire city?" Galway's draft city development plan was published just before Christmas, and proposes rezoning land on the eastern side to cope with new housing demand. However, developers wonder how there can be more development without proper services, such as sewage treatment. Hence the pressure to resolve the Mutton Island impasse, without much discussion on the chamber's part about alternative sites.
Through its president, the chamber gave a resounding endorsement last week to a proposal by Galway-based artist and actor Joe Pilkington, which would transform the access road to the proposed plant on the island into a landscaped causeway. The idea is that it could become a maritime parkway, as popular with walkers as the Salthill Prom. However, the Save Galway Bay Group points out that it would require substantial infill - and north inner Galway Bay is listed as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). The prospect of turning an SAC into a park would not, it is felt, go down well with Brussels.
The Pilkington plan has already been discussed at a meeting between Galway Corporation officials and the Save Galway Bay Group before Christmas - a meeting Mr McBride could not attend due to acting engagements in the southeast. Much was expected of the talks, but little emerged. The corporation professed to be neutral on the Pilkington plan, though it had it on display.
The controversy was taken up by local radio station Galway Bay FM, with a telephone poll which found 84 per cent of callers in favour of the chamber's stance. However, the poll did not consider alternative sites, such as that at the Isolation Hospital opposite Nimmo's Pier, a site known to be favoured by the European Commission.
Clearly the battle lines are already being drawn for February 25th . . .