GALWAY Corporation intends to proceed with a multi-million pound treatment plant and causeway on Mutton Island in the bay, the High Court was told yesterday.
Eight million gallons of raw sewage were being discharged daily into Galway Bay, which meant there was a public health obligation and sewage treatment regulations to be complied with, Mr John Gallagher SC, for the corporation, told Miss Justice Laffoy.
The judge was hearing a preliminary motion brought by people opposing the project for discovery of documents from the Ministers of the Environment and the Marine.
The action to challenge the plan is being taken in the name of Mr Raymond McBride, an actor who lives and works in Galway, on behalf of the Save the Galway Bay Group, which is trying to preserve the bay from "insensitive development".
He is seeking an order quashing the corporation's decision of February 9th, 1996, to invite tenders for the construction of the waste water treatment plant and causeway.
Mr Diarmuid Rossa Phelan, counsel for Mr McBride, said yesterday he was seeking extensive documentation from the two ministers. The hearing of the main case had been fixed for April 8th.
He said it was proposed to develop a causeway one kilometre in length and also to land-fill around the area. The sewage treatment plant would be a very imposing structure.
The change to Galway Bay would be fundamental and was of great concern to residents. The corporation had failed to take the appropriate conservation measures or measures to avoid pollution. It had been designated a special area and the project was not in compliance with EU directives.
If the proposed treatment plant did g ahead, it would be in breach of EU and national law.
After listening to submissions from both sides and from counsel for the ministers, Miss Justice Laffoy said she had regard to the fact that voluntary discovery had been made by Galway Corporation and particularly that the reliefs sought related to a specific development.
The development had been subject to an Environmental Impact Statement submitted by the corporation to the Minister for the Environment for certification. It was clear the corporation had a public notice for certification published on July 23rd, 1992.
She was expressing no view on any of the issues, she was only identifying them. The discovery was sought in far too wide terms and went way beyond the issues in the case.
She would direct that the Minister for the Environment make discovery of all documents relating to the project on or after January 1st, 1992. The Minister for the Marine should make discovery of all documents relating to an application or granting of a lease or licence for use of the foreshore at Mutton Island where the application made by the corporation was pending or made on or after January 1st, 1988.