18/08: WLL Newsletter #41 - 18 August 2006 - Part II
Continued fromhttp://www.woodlandleague.org/newsletter/index.php?itemid=54
By Tom Carron
“We haven’t made a final decision on it yet but we will probably end up putting the complex on the market for sale as a going concern”, a representative of An Coillte has informed The Anglo-Celt when responding to our query regarding a report that An Coillte was proposing to sell the chalet complex at Killykeen Forest Park.
The Coillte spokesman was emphatic that in the event of a sale of the chalet complex there would be no threat to the rights of the public using Killykeen Forest Park. He pointed out that the chalets were located in an area separated from the main park.
Conceding that the chalet complex was under performing for sometime he indicated that An Coillte were considering what was the best way of dealing with the situation. They had engaged in consultations with local business and tourism interests as to how best to proceed with the running of what was an important part of the tourism infrastructure of Cavan.
“We don’t see ourselves being involved in the tourism business long term and it would be best if the chalets were taken over by people directly involved in tourism. The complex needs investment as people today have much higher expectations than pertained when the chalets were built in the 1980s”, he stated.
There are 20 chalets and 21 cabins in the complex at Killykeen Forest Park. The provision of the chalets over twenty years ago was designed to widen the park’s attractiveness as a venue, bearing in mind that up until then it was a facility used by day trippers. The chalets in the intervening time have been used by people from
© The Anglo-Celt, August 10 ‘06
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Cassells, the former general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, announced last week that his seven months of talks with Shell, local objectors in Rossport, and the wider North Mayo community had failed to reach agreement. But he promised to outline “the ingredients of a way forward” in a series of recommendations to be given to Dempsey before the end of the month.
Cassells may stop short of specifying a compromise route for the pipeline, but a number of sources close to the mediation process expect he will recommend a move away from the route planned along the southern side of the Rossport peninsula. This will take it “away from the houses” owned by four of the five men jailed for three months last year for refusal to follow a court order.
Observers do not expect Cassells to endorse an underwater route along
Nor is he likely to recommend moving the processing operation to sea, as favoured by the Rossport protesters and the Shell to Sea campaign group, which has campaigned against the project.
Shell, the lead partner in the gas exploration project, is understood to have considered a number of alternative routes from the point where the pipeline is scheduled to come onshore at the mouth of
The Pro-Erris Gas Group, a combination of Mayo residents and business people who support the Corrib gas project, called earlier this year for the pipeline to be re-routed through the bay.
Shell responded to Cassells’ announcement saying it still believed a compromise solution acceptable “to the local community” could be found. But a statement issued by four of the Rossport Five said: “The Corrib gas project in its present configuration has run its course. What is therefore required is that the present ‘Plan of Development’ for this project be set aside and a new one negotiated that would prioritise health, safety and community consent The alternative is further conflict in North Mayo.”
The statement was issued in the names of Micheal O Seighin, Willie Corduff, and brothers Vincent and Philip McGrath. Brendan Philbin, the fifth man jailed last year, has not taken an active part in the mediation process since April but is pressing his case against Shell in a joint High Court action with Brid McGarry, owner of the largest land holdings in the path of the pipeline.
McGarry and Philbin are due back in the High Court in October to defend applications for permanent restraining orders from Shell.
Cassells indicated last week that his recommendations would address local safety concerns, the route of the pipeline, compensation for landowners, environmental concerns around the siting of the processing terminal and “improved benefits” for the region.
Stephen O’Brien
MASS RALLY TO PUSH FOR POWERLINE RETHINK
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Describing the situation as worse than the case of the Rossport Five, Joe Burke of the Bantry Concerned Action Group (BCAG) said he is hoping the weight of public opinion expressed by the large numbers expected to attend the rally, will force the ESB to accept that it must look at burying the cables underground.
Today, five farmers who have been protesting against a 14km overhead powerline are to appear in the High Court where the ESB is seeking injunctions to prevent them from blocking access to their lands.
The ESB has a contract to erect the 38KV line from the private wind farm to a sub-station at Ballylickey. It also has a court order allowing it onto lands to erect the power line. But the BCAG has been blocking ESB crews from several farms in the area for several weeks.
An ESB spokesman said the dispute is costing the company €15,000 a day.
The five who are due to appear in court, Susan Kingston, Jack Kingston, Tadhg Coughlan, John Keane and Mary Keane are members of BCAG which represents over twenty farms. They are concerned at the potential health risks of the powerlines being kept above ground and are also protesting against the ESB being able to enter their lands without permission.
According to BCAG, the powerline is to provide a grid connection for a windfarm being developed by local businessmen Bob Murnane and Denis O’Shea and it claims Murnane and O’Shea have issued a separate civil summons against 23 named individuals from the group seeking damages of €1.75m for losses resulting from delays in the project to date.
“BCAG has not objected to the windfarm,” a group spokesman said. “But it wants the powerline put underground as is common practice throughout
Stephen Rogers
POWER-LINE PROTESTERS FACE COURT
The five - Tadhg Coughlan, John Keane, Mary Keane, Jack Kingston and Susan Kingston - are members of Bantry Concerned Action Group, which has been preventing the ESB from installing poles and pylons for the 38 kilovolt overhead power line.
The line, which is intended to serve a proposed wind farm, would run through scenic areas between Colomane and Ballylickey, passing within 25 metres of some houses. Farm gates along the route are manned by pickets and there have been some stand-offs.
On May 23rd, the ESB obtained High Court injunctions against six other members of the action group, including its chairman, Joe Burke.
The injunctions prevent them from blocking access to their lands so that work can proceed on the erection of poles and pylons.
The power line is designed to provide a connection to the national grid for the proposed wind farm at Droumoureen, which is being developed by Ballybawn Wind Farm Ltd, a company controlled by Bantry-based businessmen Bob Murnane and Denis O'Shea.
Mr Murnane and Mr O'Shea have issued a civil summons against 23 named individuals from the action group seeking damages of €1.75 million in compensation for losses resulting from delays in the wind farm project caused by protests.
They have an uncontested planning permission from Cork County Council to erect 21 wind turbines with an output of 19.55 megawatts.
Last December, it sought permission for a revised scheme of 13 larger turbines to produce 40 per cent more electricity.
The local action group has not objected to the wind farm but wants the power line put underground "as is common practice throughout
An agreement was made last year to bury the line for four landowners in the Colomane area, to the exclusion of others The group has estimated the additional cost of putting cables underground at between €1.5 million and €3 million.
Quentin Gargan, the group's spokesman, said the ESB has a statutory obligation to connect to the grid at least cost, even though this would mean skirting a Sitka spruce forestry plantation and "cutting a 50 metre-wide swathe straight through native woodlands".
Referring to the Commission for Energy Regulation's set price of 5.75 cents per unit for electricity from wind farms, he said this was "lower than the price paid for electricity from gas and many other sources, and keeps the margins for wind farm operators very tight".
According to Mr Gargan, the commission should establish a higher price specifically to fund placing lines under ground.
"Already there are higher prices for electricity from offshore wind farms because of the higher construction and transmission costs," he said.
A spokesman for ESB Networks said it had no comment to make, in view of the court case. However, he noted that in granting the earlier injunctions on May 23rd, Judge Frank Clarke said it would be legally wrong for the ESB to choose the high-cost underground option.
Meanwhile, the action group is to hold a rally on Friday at Joe Burke's farm in Droumoureen. Farmers from as far away as counties Donegal and Wexford, including some who have been involved in similar battles, have indicated that they will attend.
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