An Bord Pleanála has refused planning permission for a controversial sewage sludge lagoon near Fuerty, close to the Suck river in Co Roscommon. Tim O'Brien reports.
The open-air lagoon was one of seven at five locations in the Galway-Roscommon area which were identified by the local authorities last year.
Three in the Kilbegnet area of Co Roscommon, with a combined capacity of up to 450,000 gallons of sewage, were located on one farm. The facility was set up to dry human sewage and sell it as an agricultural fertiliser.
Gardaí were called in early last year when an RTÉ cameraman was allegedly assaulted by two men and a camera was thrown into the lagoon.
The other lagoons in Co Roscommon were at Fuerty and Ballygalda, which was refused planning permission last April. The lagoons in Galway were at Athascragh and Killerrin.
Neither Roscommon nor Galway County Council was able to comment on the current position with regard to the lagoons yesterday.
An Taisce, which successfully appealed Roscommon County Council's grant of planning permission for the lagoon at Fuerty, said the decision raised concerns about how seriously Roscommon County Council was taking its legal responsibility for public health "when it accepted an outmoded 19th-century method of sewage disposal endangering public health".
An Taisce also said the council's role as a planning authority "was compromised by the dumping of sludge from council sources in the lagoon".
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