Sir, The decision of the Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin, on the Galway Waste Water Treatment Plant exposes the Labour Party's credentials on the environment. The Minister availed of a one and a half page report from the Office of Public Works to decide that a dump for building materials, and an uninhabited island, were of equal worth as a wildlife habitat.
In December of 1994 the northern inner Galway Bay was designated a Special Protected Area (SPA). Thus awarding the Isolation Hospital site the same status at Mutton Island. It is apparent now that this was a political move, carried out to reduce the possibility of locating the plant at the Isolation Hospital site. The Minister has shown a complete disregard for the SPA status by saying that both sites were of equal environmental value. The Isolation Hospital site has been a dump for construction materials for several years and is now to become an industrial park.
The Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins, acted within his ministerial brief when he forced extra conditions into the granting of planning permission for the Masonite plant in Co Leitrim The Minister would be acting within his brief as a TD for Galway West if he questioned the developments surrounding the choice of location for the treatment plant.
The Labour Party's commitment to open and accountable government is a sham of Mr Howlin's objections to the EU's decision to circulate their consultants report to interested parties. The Minister has good reason, to regret this publication as it confirms his monstrous mistake. Yours, etc. Secretary Green Party Galway, Presentation Road, Galway.