The
Green Party is to lodge an official complaint to the European Commission
over the refusal by South Dublin County Council to request an Environmental
Impact Assessment for the Adamstown development at Lucan, which is currently
the subject of an An Bord Pleanala oral hearing.
Lucan representatives Paul Gogarty TD and Councillor Fintan McCarthy will
be making a complaint to the European Commission as a result of the breach
of European Directive 85|337|EEC (as amended 1997) on Environmental Impact
Assessment.
Green Party TD, Paul Gogarty said, “The Directive outlines the procedure
to be applied to the assessment of the environmental consequences of certain
public and private projects which are likely to have a significant effect
on the environment. The Planning scheme fails to require an Environmental
Impact Assessment upon the entire development site prior to the commencement
of construction. This is an indefensible position for a planning authority
to take given that we are talking about the largest single development
in the history of the State.”
“The reasoning behind the refusal to specify the need for an overall
assessment of the environmental impact of the development revolves around
whether or not what is planned for Adamstown constitutes a project or
not. It is not good enough that wordplay is used to avoid the obvious
need for a comprehensive assessment of the development,” added Cllr
McCarthy.
Both Green Party representatives are attending the Adamstown hearing each
day and are assisting residents groups in their appeal against the flawed
plan. Counsel for the ‘Deliver It Right Campaign’ today outlined
its reasons why an EIS is required under Irish and EU law
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