DONEGAL County Council
yesterday defended its decision to commission an
expensive Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for
the controversial Moville/Greencastle sewerage
scheme at Carnagarve.
The local authority also disputed the amount of
money campaigners against the scheme claimed it had
spent on the environmental report.
The Campaign for a Clean Estuary said nearly
€500,000 had been "squandered" by the local
authority on the EIS when new legislation now
rendered it unnecessary.
Campaigner Enda Craig and group members said:"We
feel the County Manager has no choice now but to
consider his position," said Mr. Craig. The group
also called for Donegal North East's three TDs to
back their call for an investigation by the
Comptroller and Auditor General into the EIS spend.
However, acting director of services Peadar McRory
said while the EIS had to be withdrawn from the
Council's submission to An Bord Pleanala, it would
still form the basis of any future decision about
the location of the sewerage treatment plant at
Carnagarve.
"There has been no waste of money whatsoever in this
case," he said. "We've spent in the region of
€200,000 on environmental studies that had to be
carried out irrespective of adjudication.
"Because of the controversy and the trans-boundary
nature of the waters in Lough Foyle and because of
the environmental issues that have to be asked and
answered, we felt it was better to get an
independent adjudication and that's why we decided
to go down the road of an EIS," he said.
He said the contents of the EIS would now be used by
all relevant parties when considering the location
of the scheme. |
