A LEADING member of the Labour Party in Galway has resigned from the party "in disgust" over the decision by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin, to approve Mutton Island in Galway Bay as the site for the city's proposed sewage treatment plant.
Mr John Cunningham also sharply criticised the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins, for whom he was director of elections in 1989 and 1992, describing him as "the silent partner in the bizarre action".
Mr Cunningham, a physics lecturer who formerly was Galway Labour branch chairman, said his position had become untenable because of Mr Howlin's "strange decision to pre empt the European Commission and sanction the Mutton Island project at taxpayers' expense".
He is a member of the Save Galway Bay group which is campaigning against the Mutton Island site in favour of a mainland location and is now preparing to challenge the Minister's decision in court.
Mr Cunningham said Mr Howlin's decision was partly based on claims in an Office Of Public Works report that birdlife on Mutton Island would be unaffected by the plant, which contradicted a previous OPW report expressing concern over possible disruption of island wildlife.
"In one sweep, the environmental credentials of the Labour Party in Galway have been destroyed by both Mr Howlin and Mr Higgins backing a location that has not been approved by a single environmental group," said Mr Cunningham.
Mr Pat Fitzpatrick of the Galway Green Party group said Mr Howlin had "caved in to political pressure and gone against the merits of the options available".
Mr Higgins expressed regret at Mr Cunningham's resignation as he was "someone with whom I have worked closely for a very long time".
At the same time he disagreed with many of Mr Cunningham's contentions about the Mutton Island site, and said the OPW's most recent report that the threat to island birdlife from the plant would be negligible was based on the most up to date information.
Mr Higgins said Mr Howlin had made a very difficult decision in the context of continuing delays at EU level and the possibility that funding might be imperilled for the urgent action that had to be taken on the deteriorating sewage situation in Galway.