THE planning system is “unfair” according to Mary O’Leary, chairperson of Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment (CHASE), as the deadline for a decision on the Indaver incinerator in Ringaskiddy has been delayed.
Ringaskiddy where the planned new Indaver incinerator will be located. Picture: Denis Scannell
An Bord Pleanála was due to report back by today, but the deadline has now been extended to January 24. Ms O’Leary said that the public needed a final answer, and needed to be given fair treatment by the board, after their application to postpone the oral hearing earlier this year so they could prepare after being given short notice was rejected.
“We were actually galloped into the public hearing. We asked for an extension and we couldn’t have it. We were told that the board needed to report back by July. Now it won’t be until January,” she said.
Ms O’Leary said that once the decision is made, Indaver should be held to it if their proposal is rejected. This is the third application by the company, with two previous applications being unsuccessful.
“You shouldn’t be able to go back again and again with the same application for the same site. It’s a war of attrition,” she said.
Mayor Seamus McGrath, Fianna Fáil, said that residents needed to get an answer, but hoped that the delay meant that An Bord Pleanála were not going to support the project.
“It’s disappointing that the decision is to be delayed. It’s always something you wonder, is the delay in favour of the community or not? If the delay is in favour of the community, it’s not an issue, but I hope that An Bord Pleanála give a resounding refusal to the application.”
In a statement, Indaver also confirmed the delays in the project, but declined to elaborate further. “Indaver can confirm that a decision by An Bord Pleanála in relation to the company’s proposed Ringaskiddy Resource Recovery Centre has been deferred to January 24, 2017,” it said.
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