In November last year four Waterford citizens flew to Brussels to highlight their concerns about a proposed piggery at Rathnaskillogue, Stradbally.
Mr Paul Walsh, a production manager with Bausch and Lomb, retired teacher Mr Brian Corry, artist Ms Roisin O'Shea and her businessman husband, Mr Don Sutherland, met officials in the legal department of the EU's Environment Commission.
They queried the "split competency" between Waterford County Council, An Bord Pleanala and the Environment Protection Agency in crucial environmental decisions.
Planning permission was granted to Fenor Farms, owned by Dawn Meats proprietor Mr John Queally, for a 500-sow unit despite opposition from local interest groups who claimed it would threaten water supplies.
The proposed piggery is located on a regionally important aquifer that stretches from Tramore to Dungarvan and north into Co Kilkenny.
Groundwater tests by the council for 1999-2001 showed an upward trend in elevated nitrate levels. This is significant in view of the European Commission's statement last week that it is to prosecute the Republic for failing to prevent nitrate pollution from farms affecting rivers and lakes.
The group pointed out that Waterford County Council itself abandoned plans in 1999 for a landfill site where the proposed piggery is located because the area was "extremely vulnerable to water pollution".
The four-strong group told the Brussels officials about Fianna Fail councillor Tom Cunningham's attempts to persuade the council to revoke the planning permission by bringing a Section 30 motion under the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act. The motion was narrowly defeated.
The group says individual councillors were told by the county manager, Mr Donal Connolly, that they could be liable for costs if a judicial review ruled against the planning authority.
Senior officials say it is up to the Environmental Protection Agency to adjudicate on the matter when the piggery applies for an integrated pollution control (IPC) licence.
But Cllr Cunningham insists it is a public health issue since people's health could be at risk from drinking water contaminated by excessive nitrates resulting from a piggery on this scale.
In February the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, received a letter from the EU Environment Commissioner, Ms Margot Wallstrom, which challenged the way the Republic had implemented the Impact Directive (85/337/EEC) in cases where IPCs were required.
The letter referred to the proposed Stradbally piggery, in particular, as an example of how the implementing legislation had failed to comply with the directive.
The Commissioner cited two complaints which argued that the potential environmental impact of the proposed piggery had radically changed during the decision-making procedure.
While a figure of 1,507 hectares was stipulated as the area for spreading the waste in the planning application submitted on March 12th, 1998, some 70 per cent of this land bank was withdrawn before a decision to grant planning permission had been upheld by An Bord Pleanala.
"Information from a developer which omits information on 70 per cent of the lands needed to dispose of wastes generated by such installation cannot be considered to have provided a description of the measures envisaged in order to avoid, reduce and if possible, remedy significant adverse effects - or the data required to identify and assess the main effects which the project is likely to have on the environment," Ms Wallstrom said.
"However, the local planning authority in the case of the Stradbally pig-rearing installation did not require such information and gave planning permission in its absence."
The Government confirmed to the Commission that there had been a substitution of spread-lands and said that additional information had been sought by An Bord Pleanala after the public consultation period had closed.
When the developer submitted an environment impact survey (EIS) of the project to the Environmental Protection Agency as a statutory requirement for the IPC licence, however, it referred to the original spread-lands and not the new ones approved by An Bord Pleanala.
A spokesman for the EPA said that normally a "draft" IPC licence would be issued within two months of an application. The agency had written to the developer, Mr Queally, in April and informed him that both the EIS and the application were deficient in information.
No reply has been forthcoming so far, but that was not unusual in such cases, the spokesman said.
Mr Queally, when contacted yesterday, said Fenor Farms was "complying in full" with the EPA's request for clarification and would be responding shortly. "I'm confident we'll be able to satisfy all their requirements," he said.
Asked about the EU's decision to prosecute the Republic for non-compliance with the Nitrate Directive and in particular the Brussels findings on Waterford, he said: "This has all been pushed by the people who are objecting. There is absolutely no reason why Waterford should be highlighted rather than anywhere else."
The EPA spokesman said the IPC licensing process for the piggery allowed for public submissions. Some 318 had been received to date and were still coming in.
To date, the EPA has refused to grant an IPC licence in the case of six piggeries.