MORE THAN a dozen quarries in Co Kerry are unauthorised or are in serious breach of their planning conditions, according to a council report.
However, because of a loophole in the 2000 Planning and Development Act legislation, the council cannot enforce the planning conditions attached to the quarries in a large number of cases.
Brendan Cronin, an Independent councillor, sought the list of unauthorised quarries after complaints by residents and from road users from across the county about a breach of conditions.
“We need quarries. But the conditions have to be respected. We are talking about breach of noise levels, operating dawn to dusk, unreasonable air pollution and so on,” Mr Cronin said.
There was no current legislation to force quarries to abide by their planning conditions and Mr Cronin said it needed to be addressed urgently.
Some 15 quarries are not in compliance and have been issued with enforcement and other notices in relation to landscaping and other compliance issues, but in many cases no legal action can proceed until the law is amended, according to the report.
An amendment introduced under the 2010 Planning and Development Act will rectify the legal loophole but it has not yet been commenced.
The change under section 74 of the 2010 Act will mean that failure to comply with conditions will render the quarry unauthorised, council planners have said in their report to Mr Cronin. All quarries will have to be examined within nine months following the commencement of the section and the council will have to set up a special team to do so.