An Taisce appeals against new quarry

The main street of Ballyconnell, Co Cavan, Ireland is "suffering devastating safety and environmental impacts from the high level of truck movements generated by various parts of the Quinn Group", according to An Taisce.  The heavy traffic arises from a cement factory outside the village, without its own source of limestone on site; a nearby warehouse; and, just across the Border on the road to Derrylin, Co Fermanagh, a concrete works and a glass factory.  To this range of operations, Quinn Group proposes to add a foam insulation factory near Ballyconnell, for which planning permission was granted by An Bord Pleanála last month, and two quarries, one 11 kilometres away, beyond Slieve Rushden.

"None of this should have happened in an area remote from national primary routes and the railway system," said a spokesman for An Taisce. It could undermine the tourism value of the cross-Border funded Shannon-Erne waterway, he said.

A spokesman for Quinn Group said it "would prefer not to make any comment on it [the appeal] at the moment". He was "sure you can appreciate our predicament" as the matter had yet to come before An Bord Pleanála.

An Taisce said the heavy traffic problem in the area would be compounded by the large warehouse building now approved and by the board’s recent decisions to grant permission for a concrete ready-mix plant and foam insulation factory.  The board justified its decisions on the basis of the alleged "established pattern of industrial development" in the area, without traffic management or environmental mitigation measures being put in place, said An Taisce.