Quarry companies 'don't care' about communities - Minister

Kieran Cummins addressing the meeting.

When quarrying companies go to Bord Pleanala to have legitimate development levies reduced, they're showing that they have no concern for the local authorities or the communities in which they operate, writes Brian Byrne. That view was expressed by Minister of State and local TD Martin Heydon at last evening's public meeting on the quarry issue in Kildare, hosted by the Ballyshannon Action Group.

The group are fighting against the imposition of a quarry by Kilsaran Concrete on a farm, Racefield, in their rural community. Earlier, their chairman Jim Burke had said that the quarry and concrete industry was making hundreds of millions of euro, and 'nothing from it was going back into the country', suggesting that they pay minimal tax on their activities. "This is one of the biggest opportunities for any Government," he said. "Tax them as much as you can and there will be plenty of money to build social housing, parks, and the good things that people deserve."

Martin Heydon said that if the companies were paying the proper levies they 'could be considered a partnership'. "But when they challenge them, they show that they don't care at all."

Senator Mark Wall agreed, saying that quarry companies 'ruin communities'. "And because they have appealed and had levies reduced, there is nothing left to pay for the damage." He added that he hoped the purpose of the meeting is successful, to see if a county-wide community platform to monitor the industry is possible. "It is very important that you invited people from other parts of Kildare here tonight, because where will be the next community to be affected?"

The issue of monitoring and enforcement of planning conditions in the quarrying industry was a key element in the preamble to the meeting as articulated by Ballyshannon Action Group's Joanna Costello. She noted that if the Racefield quarry goes ahead, there will be four quarries owned by Kilsaran in the Kilcullen area alone. "The quarry industry seems to have a very loud voice in Kildare," she said, adding that quarrying is a 'systemic problem' in the county. She reiterated the group's belief that there is no monitoring of compliance with planning conditions, 'only if people living near the facilities make a complaint'. "There is no measurement of what is being extracted, or where what is extracted is going," she said. "We think that without monitoring, there can be no management of the issue." Jim Burke said the concrete and quarry industry 'is running this country'. "They can railroad their way through Kildare and any rural area, and nothing happens." 

Kieran Cummins from Enfield in Co Meath, which he has described as 'quarry central' in that county, told the meeting that the system of providing bonds to ensure reinstatement of quarrying sites is 'totally inadequate' for what the country is now dealing with. Noting that a bond is just like an insurance policy, he said escrow accounts of 'hard cash' being put aside for reinstatement are what is needed. He added that there is is a 'huge issue' with financial compliance in the industry, and even though fines for breaches have been substantially increased, he has never seen any Warning Notice followed up by a local authority. 

"The notices are sent out, but I have never seen one implemented," he said. "With fines of up to €12 million possible, even implementing one once would put the fear of God into them all." He also noted that some countries no longer have their own sand and gravel, including the UK where they are now dredging river beds for aggregate. "Even in Ireland we have exhausted our sand and gravel resources in many areas," he said. "We do need to be looking at our policy of using our resources as if there's no end to them." He also referenced the significant tax on aggregate in the UK, unlike in Ireland. 

Independent TD Cathal Berry said he hadn't realised that so much of the aggregate extracted here was being exported, and he said he would investigate if that was illegal given that it was so destructive in environmental terms. 

Martin Heydon said the last few years in Ballyshannon had given a 'crash course' in the deficiencies in the planning system. Specifically on the Racefield project, turned down by Kildare County Council but their decision reversed by An Bord Planeala, he said it had been looked at in isolation even though it was known Kilsaran had bought other lands in the area. "My view is that if a company has plans to develop across an area, that needs to be looked at in the whole."

Cllr Padraig McEvoy from Clane said public interest and the environment had to be put back into planning policy. "We have lost our perspective," he said, suggesting the question has to be asked 'if we're trying to develop the country too much?'.

Other matters discussed included the current pre-legislative scrutiny of revisions to planning laws that's going through an Oireachtas committee, and which has the potential to limit objections by communities to developments. Mark Wall reminded the meeting that such committees must consider contributions from the public, and submissions by letter from anybody are very important.

The meeting included attendees from the mid-Kildare area, from Rathangan in the west of the county and Athy in the south. Representatives from the Two Mile House Says No! group, who have been fighting against a plan to develop a large-scale battery storage installation (BESS) at Dunnstown, said that 'developers have all the advantages'. "Even though Kildare County Council refused permission, Bord Pleanala overturned that," campaign member Hugh Dillon said of their issue. "Because it has a kind of green agenda, nobody wants to say anything about it. Our planning system isn't fit for purpose."

All public representatives in Kildare had been invited to the meeting. Apologies were received from councillors Peggy O’Dwyer, Ivan Keatley, Tracey O’Dwyer, Tim Durkan and Mark Leigh, as well as TDs Bernard Durkan and Sean O’Fearghail, and Senator Fiona O’Loughlin.

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