Shannon Airport could be closed if the High Court upholds a complaint by a Kerry county councillor that millions of gallons of untreated effluent are being discharged into the Shannon estuary from the new Aer Rianta terminal at the airport, lawyers for the authority have told the High Court.
Mr Paul Sreenan SC, for Aer Rianta, said the primary reason behind the application by Independent Cllr Billy Leen for an order preventing the discharge of the effluent was to prevent US troops landing at Shannon.
This was not an application brought for conservation reasons, he alleged.
Mr Justice McKechnie yesterday reserved judgment on the application.
He was earlier told that millions of gallons of untreated water were being discharged into the Shannon estuary from the new terminal.
Mr Leen is seeking an order prohibiting the discharge, pending the provision of a satisfactory effluent treatment system.
Mr Michael O'Donnell, for Mr Leen, said the respondents accepted that the effluent being discharged was not being treated. He said there had been no compliance with the conditions for the building of the terminal.
Counsel added that Mr Leen was entitled to bring the proceedings, whether or not he was concerned about the war in Iraq.
In an affidavit, Mr Leen said the area into which the water is being discharged was a special area of conservation and one of the most important ecological sites within the EU.
The court heard that it was planned that Clare County Council would connect into the Shannon Free Airport Development Company treatment plant and the Aer Rianta terminal building would be linked into this but the plan had not worked out.
Mr Sreenan said Aer Rianta had now put in an application for its own waste-water treatment plant. The plant would be completed in December 2004.