Sir, - Yet another rural landscape will be destroyed if An Bord Pleanala gives the go-ahead for the £40 million cement factory at Ballinabrackey in south Co Meath.
I am writing to express my disillusionment with our planning process. It seems incredible that for a development covering 200 acres of agricultural land and involving the construction of a cement factory, a tower more than twice the height of Dublin's Liberty Hall, shale and limestone quarries, and more, local residents have been refused an oral hearing at which to further express their views.
If the development goes ahead, should I conclude that the promised 200 jobs is reward enough for the destruction of this beautiful midlands landscape? Apart from the devastating effect this development will have on the landscape, should we not consider, in these times of relative prosperity, the quality of the jobs we wish to create? Surely it should not still be a case of "jobs, whatever the cost to the environment"? - Yours, etc., Frank Monahan,
Ballinteer, Dublin 16.