Tipperary groups to oppose animal waste plant plans

Campaigners against a proposed animal waste plant in Co Tipperary are to lodge a new objection against it by the end of the month…

Campaigners against a proposed animal waste plant in Co Tipperary are to lodge a new objection against it by the end of the month.

The site is at Castleblake, near Rosegreen, between Cashel and Clonmel, about a mile from John Magnier's Coolmore Stud and Aidan O'Brien's stables at Ballydoyle.

A consortium has proposed building a plant capable of processing annually 250,000 tonnes of animal and biological waste which will be turned into biofuel, fertiliser and generate electricity for the national grid.

The proposed factory is on the site of a disused rendering facility which was the subject of an unsuccessful attempt five years ago to build an incinerator.

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A new planning application for the plant is due to be submitted today after a previous one which was lodged before Christmas was sent back because of inconsistencies in the original application.

On Monday, local residents agreed to form the South Tipperary for Clean Industry group which will be lodging an objection to the proposed plant in the next two to three weeks.

Coolmore has also said it will lodge an objection, while the Southern Regional Fisheries Board objected to the original proposal because of its potential effect on the river Moyle.

A public meeting attended by 300 local people received cross-party support with former Fine Gael minister and now Independent TD Michael Lowry, Fine Gael TD Tom Hayes and Fianna Fáil Senator Martin Mansergh all voicing their objections to the proposal.

Bioscientist Dr Kevin McDonnell told the meeting that a plant on this scale had never been developed before anywhere in the world to deal with such a volume of infectious biological waste.

Mr Lowry said the plant had served its purpose in the past and should be closed for good, while Mr Mansergh said any advantages it would bring would be cancelled out by the damage it would do the local horse-breeding industry.

Concerns were also expressed that the plant would operate 24 hours a day, generating a large volume of traffic in the area.

The proposed facility is being developed by Green Organics Energy (GOE) Ltd, a consortium which includes Dawn Meats, Bioverda, a subsidiary of National Toll Roads, and National Byproducts, owned by the Ronan family, which operated the rendering plant on the site for more than 40 years.

If built, it could generate 50,000 tonnes of biodiesel, 20,000 tonnes of fertiliser and 17 megawatts of electricity, enough to power a town of about 14,000 people.

In a statement GOE said it noted the meeting and that "every effort" had been made to ensure that the community was informed of all issues pertaining to the proposal.

It maintained that the plant would be built to the highest international standards on a site which had traditionally been used for industrial purposes, creating 50 new jobs in the process.

Green Organics Energy also confirmed that it would resubmit its planning application this morning.

Ronan McGreevy

Ronan McGreevy

Ronan McGreevy is a news reporter with The Irish Times