A legal challenge over the granting of planning permission to a proposed controversial €160 million incinerator at Ringaskiddy in Cork Harbour will not be heard in the High Court until next year.
Mr Justice David Barniville, who was told on Monday there are 98 grounds listed in the challenge, agreed a timetable for the exchange of documents between all sides to the case, which is set to go ahead in February 2019.
Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment (CHASE) last week got permission to seek a judicial review of the granting of planning permission by An Bord Pleanála (ABP) last May for the incinerator.
Mr Justice Barniville ruled there were sufficient grounds entitling the group to seek judicial review. The group is seeking an order quashing the May 28th decision to grant planning permission.
It is also seeking an order quashing the environmental impact assessment (EIA) carried out by ABP on May 23rd. It claims ABP erred in law and had no jurisdiction to grant planning permission.
It claims ABP failed to carry out any, or any legally adequate, EIA or appropriate assessment prior to the decision to grant development consent.
Health impact
It alleges failure to carry out an assessment of the impact on health, and failure to carry out any adequate EIA in respect of the fundamental issue of site selection. ABP granted planning permission under the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act 2006 to Indaver Ireland for an incinerator at a 13.5-hectare site at the end of the Ringaskiddy peninsula.
The incinerator will have an operational life of 30 years. Indaver lodged a planning application on January 13th, 2016 and ABP had deferred its decision nine times.
The permission was granted with a number of conditions, including that the eight-storey facility, with a 70-metre chimney, would take no more than 240,000 tonnes of municipal waste and no more than 24,000 tonnes of hazardous waste each year. Indaver Ireland Ltd and Indaver NV trading as Indaver Ireland are notice parties to the High Court proceedings.
