Údarás na Gaeltachta has defended its construction of a waste-treatment plant in Connemara without planning permission, writes Lorna Siggins, Western Correspondent.
The Gaeltacht development board said it understood the plant would be exempt from planning permission when it was built at a cost of €500,000.
An existing effluent plant serving two fish-processing factories at Cill Chiaráin had broken down on "numerous occasions" and required an urgent upgrade, the board's deputy chief executive and spokesman, Mr Pádraig Ó hAoláin, said.
The PD local election candidate in Connemara, Mr Jim Larkin, has called for the break-up of the board's estates, engineering and planning department over the latest controversy, and said an environmental and governance inspectorate should be created.
However, Mr Ó hAoláin said the engineers had acted in good faith in their interpretation of the planning legislation.
When an objection was lodged with Galway County Council, the local authority ruled it did require planning permission.
Údarás na Gaeltachta sought an opinion from An Bord Pleanála, which ruled last December that an application should have been lodged.
The board has now applied for retention of the plant, and Galway County Council has sought additional information, giving the board six months to respond.
"We have plans to move these fish factories and the plant to a new marine industrial park two miles away, so any arrangement approved at the existing site will be temporary in any case," Mr Ó hAoláin said.
Last month Údarás na Gaeltachta had to withdraw a holiday cottage development from sale after questions were raised over its acceptance of a lower bid from a local consortium.
The board is selling properties following budgetary cuts imposed by the Government.