THE Government is coming under pressure to intervene in the dispute between Glanbia and An Taisce over the planned €140m cheese plant at Belview.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin was forced to comment in the Dáil last week on the matter, when questioned by TDs.
He said people had the right to object to significant projects, but he cautioned that the judicial review process should not be used as a mechanism to delay vital infrastructure.
“There is an independent planning process. It is rigorous and it should be respected.
“There is a growing sense that the judicial review is becoming a new mechanism to frustrate and delay projects, hoping that they may not develop. That is creating challenges on the investment side and in terms of the creation of jobs. That has to be acknowledged.”
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Full planning permission may be required for fencing, draining or any work involving a digger on some selected farmlands by 2030 under controversial EU special designation plans.
In fact, over the next decade Ireland could see some farmland left under stricter protection status than the world-famous wildlife plains of the Serengeti National Park in Africa, it has emerged.
With bilateral talks underway between Ireland and the EU Commission on the implementation of the EU’s Biodiversity Strategy 2030 – which seeks that land mass protection in Ireland more than doubles from 13pc to 30pc – INHFA is calling out “the major and devastating burden” this would place on farm incomes.
Damien O Reilly.
The decision by the Environmental Pillar to walk from the Agri-Food 2030 Strategy Committee, while not entirely surprising, must be disappointing for environmentalists and farmers alike. Both parties agree that change is afoot when it comes to balancing the production of food with the replenishing of the environment.
But the continuing adversarial narrative is concerning and frustrating for everybody else watching on.
The narrative remains bitterly divided
En route to finally agreeing to the Northern Ireland Peace Process, we remember walk outs and breakdowns in talks. But it was all part of the choreography to finally knocking heads together and working as one for mutual benefit.
A further round of consultations between the farm organisations and the Department of Agriculture regarding the Nitrates Derogation will take place in May.