Clonshaugh treatment plant on pause as High Court rules with objectors

Gary Ibbotson 05 May 2021

A High-Court judge has ruled that Irish Water must consult with the Enivronmental Protection Agency (EPA) before work on the Greater Dublin Drainage Project can proceed.

Judge Senan Allen said last week that the water authority must undertake an environmental impact assessment prior to beginning construction on the proposed Clonshaugh wastewater treatment plant.

An Bord Pleanala granted planning permission for the centre – which has been earmarked to serve over 500,000 people – in November 2019 before having permission quashed by the High-Court.

The ruling is the latest development in the process which has been ongoing for over three years.

Brina Seoige, a local who helped set up a GoFundMe campaign to fund the judicial review in November 2019 said in a statement that: “What we have achieved with this Judicial Review is important.

“This court case has already forced the state to introduce Statutory Instrument SI 214 of 2020 which means better scrutiny and actual coordination of environmental and public health assessments of sewage discharges between the EPA and An Bord Pleanala.

“Freedom of information requests and painstaking research for this case has also thrown up serious new issues regarding the inability of this plant to expand beyond 500,000 people,” says Seoige.

“This means it too will be overloaded like Ringsend with raw sewage discharging into the Tolka River (which will enter Dublin Bay near Ringsend) and other sewage overflows from Clonshaugh to Leixlip.

“All these issues will be addressed in a new case if required.”

The proposed Clonshaugh treatment plant is one aspect of the Greater Dublin Drainage Project which also consists of an outfall pipe planned for Baldoyle Bay, a biosolids storage facility (organic matter recovered from a sewage treatment process) in Kilshane, and a pumping station in Abbotstown.

Organisers of the judicial review say that they are concerned about the environmental impact of the project which they say will damage marine life and people living near the treatment plant.

“The Clonshaugh Sewage Plant will release foul odours and hazardous particulate into the air around the plant which will impact on the health of the communities beside the plant and the Blanchardstown storage tanks,” says their statement.

“It also will impact Irelands Eye SAC which has protected reefs and also is the main breeding ground for seals in Dublin Bay and the Irish Sea.

“The area adjacent to the sewage discharge outfall is also commercial shellfish waters and a public bathing area.

“Environmental legislation cannot be applied arbitrarily by An Bord Pleanala which is Ireland’s competent authority for planning developments.”

Irish Water says that the project will not harm marine life or locals living in the Clonshaugh area.

The water authority also says that bathing water in the bay would not be adversely affected by the outfall and that nesting birds on Ireland’s Eye would not be disturbed.

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