More than 17,000 signatures have been collected from people opposed to a planned animal-waste incinerator near Cashel, a meeting of South Tipperary County Council was told yesterday.
Campaigners against the incinerator at Rosegreen claimed dairy farming and the bloodstock industry in the Golden Vale would be under threat if the project was to go ahead.
They also criticised the manner in which the council granted planning permission last month to National By-Products, an animalwaste processing company which employs 130 people at its existing Rosegreen facility.
A delegation from the South Tipperary Anti-Incinerator Campaign (STAC) asked councillors to express opposition to the project.
Leading racehorse trainer Aidan O'Brien and breeder John Magnier, whose respective operations, Ballydoyle stables and Coolmore Stud, are located in the Golden Vale, are supporting the STAC campaign.
The composer Andrew Lloyd Weber, who has a residence and stud farm in the area, is also opposed to the project and has appealed the council's planning permission to An Bord Pleanála. More than 50 groups have lodged similar appeals, yesterday's meeting was told.
If permission for the incinerator is upheld by the board, a licence to operate it will be required from the Enviromental Protection Agency.
Ms Jean Hayden, secretary of STAC, said the Golden Vale was the wrong place for a meat-andbone meal incinerator. Surrounding mountains could cause a build-up of emissions, and an inadequate road network was already unable to cope with the demands on it, she said.
Tipperary was the centre of Ireland's thoroughbred horse-racing and breeding industries, she added, while 375 million litres of milk were produced annually within a 40-kilometre radius of Rosegreen.
"Both industries provide huge employment and prosperity to the county and rely on protecting our clean air, soil and water. The bloodstock industry in particular is vulnerable to any damage to the perception of South Tipperary and Ireland as a clean and wholesome place," she said.
An explanation given by the council about the procedures involved in granting planning permission had done nothing to allay people's fears. "It seems it is possible to have planning permission granted for any building irrespective of its proposed use if the planning conditions are acceptable to the planning authority and the county manager is willing to sign an executive order.
"If this is correct, could this mean that if a building were to be used to incinerate toxic waste, or to dispose of asbestos or nuclear waste, the county manager would be obliged to grant planning permission even though he had full knowledge of the intended use of the building?" she asked.
Another member of STAC, Dr Molly Owens, said she represented the GPs of South Tipperary, who were opposed to the project.
"How could anyone in their right mind," she asked, "consider putting a meat-and-bone meal incinerator in this Golden Vale of ours?"
The acting county manager, Mr Ned O'Connor, said councillors would be given a report by next Monday on all of the issues raised.