Connect: 'I wouldn't inflict this kind of plant on any community," says Damian Cassidy, chairman of Ringsend/Sandymount Environment Group.
"This kind of plant" is the huge sewage one in Dublin's Ringsend. It stank yet again this week but Environment Minister Dick Roche and Fingal County Manager John Tierney remain determined to impose a similar giant stench-factory on Portrane.
The proposed Portrane plant is just the latest in a series of Government actions that turn managing into bullying. Already this week Thornton Hall, Rossport and Trim have rightly been in the headlines. The timing of maturing SSIAs notwithstanding, the governing FF/PD coalition may well be undone because of its bullying and abject pandering to big business.
Less than two weeks ago a builders' suppliers next to the stinking Ringsend plant closed. Ringsend Builders' Providers reported that it had lost business due to the ongoing smell. Its staff of 15 could no longer work or indeed be expected to work because of the stink. Until a couple of months ago the firm also had a garden centre on the site but has had to close that too.
"We just had too many complaints about the smell and people stopped coming to us," said manager Paul Horan. "A lot of money was invested in these premises but we had to decide that enough was enough."
People in Portrane too have decided that, when it comes to Fingal County Council taking other people's problems, rubbish and sewage, "enough is enough". They are livid.
They know, however, the political strategy to force a giant sewage plant upon them is to isolate them. The disposal of human faeces is an obnoxious problem and communities unaffected - or believing themselves unaffected - are happy to dump, quite literally, on others. This Government and some of its wealthy friends already dump on Ringsend. Now they've chosen Portrane.
"The smell will travel," says Damian Cassidy. "At Ringsend, everything we predicted could go wrong, did go wrong and this is a problem that will not go away. Communities shouldn't have to accept others' waste. There really should be a number of smaller strategic plants." The Ringsend plant is the largest sewage factory in Europe.
"People in Donnybrook and Killiney are delighted to dump their sewage over to Ringsend," adds Cassidy. It's true, for few want to take responsibility for their own waste. Depending on winds, the stench from Ringsend reaches Ballsbridge on Dublin's southside (only the infrequency of the stink ensures it remains the most expensive land in Ireland) and Drumcondra on the northside.
Given that the prevailing wind in Ireland is from the south-west, Rush and Lusk can expect to suffer unduly from any Portrane stench. Assuming the Ringsend experience is replicated, the smell can occasionally be expected to reach Skerries. Under less frequent north-easterly winds it may engulf the village of Donabate and the towns of Swords and Malahide.
Ringsend sewage works are operated by Celtic Anglian Water, an outfit half-controlled by National Toll Roads (NTR), operators of the ultra-lucrative West Link and East Link toll bridges. NTR also owns Greenstar (formerly Celtic Waste) waste disposal firm. Davy Stockbrokers say it aims to continue developing these waste disposal interests.
Fergus O'Dowd, FG spokesman on the environment and local government, agrees the proposed Portrane plant should not proceed. "Under the proximity principle that waste should be dealt with as near as possible to the source, it's wrong," he says. "The technology is clearly not adequate. It's not fair that one community should be expected to accept everyone else's sewage. A number of smaller plants would be better and fairer," he added.
Meanwhile, an e-mail sent by me on September 14th to local FF TD Jim Glennon (Skerries)received a reply from his constituency office that it would "be brought to the attention of Deputy Glennon". But there's been nothing further. Dublin North's other FF TD, GV Wright, replied stating that "the only information" he had on the project was "the coverage in the national papers".
Last Wednesday, Fingal County Council voted to protect Thornton Hall which is on the site of the proposed replacement for Mountjoy prison. The councillors' decision does not guarantee the Government won't demolish Thornton Hall. Still, it shows a willingness to band together against centralised bullying, even though Portrane residents remain wary of certain Fingal councillors.
Next Tuesday, the people of the Donabate and Portrane peninsula will hold a public meeting in the local community centre. The Community Newsletter simply states: "If you do not want this peninsula becoming the destination for human waste from Dublin and beyond, you are strongly encouraged to attend this meeting." If anything, it's too measured for the state vandalism proposed.
Five men spent more than 90 days in jail for opposing the oil barons of Shell, Marathon and Statoil. A four-storey hotel is being built yards from recently restored Trim Castle. A wasteful Government wants to dump a prison at Thornton Hall. Given all that, the proposed faeces factory at Portrane may be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Dick Roche, John Tierney and their backers have explaining to do.