The board of An Taisce is “reviewing its options” after the High Court rejected its challenge to permission for a controversial Glanbia continental cheese manufacturing plant in Kilkenny.
ast Friday, Mr Justice Richard Humphreys found none of the grounds of appeal advanced by An Taisce met the criteria for a certificate of leave to appeal.
Farm leaders have welcomed the development and called for the Glanbia Ireland / Royal A-Aware joint venture to proceed without further delay.
At the hearing, Mr Justice Humphreys ruled that none of An Taisce’s grounds identified points of law of exceptional public importance arising from his judgment last April dismissing An Taisce’s case against An Bord Pleanála and the State.
In challenging the planning permission granted to Kilkenny Cheese Ltd, An Taisce claimed the environmental effects of the milk inputs for the cheese plant at Belview, Kilkenny - being developed under a joint venture agreement with Glanbia’s Dutch partner Royal-A-Ware - were not properly taken into account for the purposes of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Habitats Directives.
Meeting the State’s climate targets requires reducing the national herd of cows, not increasing it, and the dairy industry overall is unsustainable due to the adverse environmental impacts created by it, it claimed.
An EIA report for the developer noted the dairy herd is expected to increase from 1.4 million to 1.7 million cows by 2025 with each cow projected to produce more milk in that time, giving a projected increase of about 1.6 billion litres of milk by 2025, the court heard.
In his April judgment, Mr Justice Humphreys said An Taisce’s real grievance was with Government policy and the issues raised were not a basis for challenging this permission under the planning code. General programmatic polices are not capable of being subject to the same sort of site-specific regulation as individual planning applications, he said.
An Taisce later applied for leave to appeal that decision but, in a further judgment on Friday, the judge refused the necessary certificate.
Responding to the ruling, IFA president Tim Cullinan said: “An Taisce has a prescribed role in the planning system, but they also have a duty to act responsibly. On each occasion, the process has found everything is in order. Objecting for the sake of it is an abuse of the system.
ICMSA president Pat McCormack hopes the plant will be allowed to proceed as soon as possible. “It’s time for all involved in the debate to show their confidence in our ability to make the correct decisions. This plant should be built without any further delay.”
A spokesperson for An Taisce said: “We are disappointed at the decision”.
“The application to appeal was based on the firm conviction, supported by advice, legal and scientific, that the High Court judgement rejecting the judicial review of the An Bord Pleanála decision on the Belview cheese plant raised points of law that are of exceptional public importance and which are therefore essential to appeal in the public interest.
“The Board of An Taisce will review the judgment and assess its options before making any further comment.”
