THE decision of the EU Commission not to provide funding for the £23 million Mutton Island sewage treatment plant in Galway will not deter the Minister for the Environment from proceeding with the controversial project.
Mr Howlin said yesterday he had already made it clear the work would be paid for with a national grant. "The decision to advance the scheme has been taken in the interests of the inner Galway environment and so as to avoid further delay in providing necessary secondary treatment facilities."
He was confident that Ireland would get its full allocation of Cohesion Fund assistance for environment projects.
The Regional Affairs Commissioner, Ms Monika Wulf Mathies, who is responsible for the EU's Cohesion Funds, told Mr Howlin in a strongly worded letter that he had pre empted the Commission's decision by "unilaterally" announcing that the plant could go ahead in the full knowledge of the Commission's environmental concerns. She therefore decided that the Union would not be able to co finance the project.
Ms Wulf Mathies vehemently denied the suggestion, apparently made in a letter from Mr Howlin's Department on January 9th that she had chosen to open up a debate over the heads of the local and national authorities. She made no apology for the Union's determination to ensure the project conformed to environmental standards, reminding the Minister of her legal obligations.
In her letter, she said: "Allow me to express surprise and disappointment that while a Cohesion Fund application for assistance for this project was being carefully examined, the project was announced without any prior exchange of information between us believe that the cooperation which had been established warranted a timely exchange of information."
Councillor John Gormley of the Green Party, welcomed the Commissioner's decision, and said Mr Howlin had displayed contempt for the wishes of the local community and the institutions of the EU. "We would appeal to him to stop behaving like an environmental philistine and to listen to the recommendations of the Greens and other environmentalists." He believed a suitable land based location could be found and this would be in keeping with the wishes of the local community, environmentalists and the EU.
Ms Wulf Mathies's contribution to what is clearly an acrimonious exchange of letters is likely to add fuel to the flames of an already bitter debate on the construction of the £23 million plant. Co financing by the EU would have meant up to half of the project's cost being met from Brussels. Now the Minister will have to find the money elsewhere.
Earlier this month, the Galway. West Labour Constituency Council dissociated itself from the Minister's decision. This followed the resignation of Mr Johns Cunningham, the party's director of elections in Galway West. He resigned because of lack of consultation about the project.