Quarrying is changing the local environment of Co Meath - posing environmental problems for the community, argues Eileen Battersby.

ON MIDSUMMER'S DAY 2002, a group of us decided to celebrate by walking to the top of the Hill of Allen in Co Kildare. It wasn't too steep, so I decided we should race, and I won. But on reaching the top, triumph was immediately deflected by the shock of the view - not one of rolling scenic beauty, but the discovery that the famous hill had been virtually disembowelled by extensive quarrying.

Several months later, on St Bridget's Day, we returned to the Hill of Allen to watch celebrations welcoming the spring. White witches looked to the four winds, invoking the gods to protect the earth, but one of the witches opened her eyes and looked at the massive quarry dominating the view, having gouged out most of the hill and the surrounding land, and remarked: "Dear Heavens, it looks like we're way too late."

Quarries are invasive. They destroy a rural landscape, transforming it into a lunar one. Vital to the construction industry, they are a necessary evil. But they must be monitored and locations carefully chosen. Above all, once exhausted, instead of being extended, the area should be rehabilitated, replanted and returned to the natural environment.

THE PRETTY VILLAGE of Rathmolyon, situated equidistant between Trim and Enfield in south Co Meath, is one of the few remaining estate villages in Ireland. Many of the families have lived here for generations. The local population has also been increased in recent years by newcomers who have settled here in order to commute to Dublin for work. During the past decade, however, the village has struggled to retain its quiet rural atmosphere as the volume of heavy traffic from intensive quarrying has multiplied.

From early morning and throughout the working day, including Saturdays, cavalcades of lorries from the various quarries pass through the village. Many villagers, as well as the wider rural community, believe that the cumulative effects of large and smallscale quarrying operations which range from sand and gravel extraction to limestone blasting, have severely impacted on their quality of life.

Children no longer walk to school: cycling and walking dogs have become hazardous. In recent weeks there was an incident involving cement blocks falling from a truck. It has been estimated that there are now more than a dozen quarries operating within a five-mile radius of the village.

Aside from the traffic dangers, there is also the noise pollution and an all-encompassing dust film, while some home-owners have reported that structural damage has been done to their homes, which they suspect may be related to the vibrations caused by heavy lorry traffic. There are also fears the water supply is being undermined and wells have dried up. The local national school had to sink a new well three years ago.

IN JANUARY 2007, Rathmolyon Environmental Protection Alliance was formed in response to the spiralling quarry activity. Central to this was a major planning application made by Keegan Quarries Limited, seeking permission to demolish houses, tunnel under the main road, the R156, and open another quarry opposite its existing Trammon Rathmolyon quarry. The additional quarrying space, covering an area of 20.23 hectares, is being presented as an extension of the existing operation.

Also included in the application is the "establishment of a pre-cast concrete plant, the establishment of a concrete-block plant and the establishment of associated plant facilities". The sheer scale of the proposal, as well as the low-lying aspect of the site and its obvious visual impact on the local environment, caused widespread alarm among the community. There were also safety concerns relating to the risk of blasting so close to the main Dublin to Galway gas line, which traverses the same field.

"After years of tolerating the local quarries with their related problems such as the traffic, the blasting, the wells going dry, the structural damage, and now this new threat to the gas line, this was time to call a halt," says local environmental activist Kieran Cummins, recalling that the application had originally been lodged a couple of days before Christmas 2006, "when everyone's thoughts were elsewhere".

The alliance quickly gathered support because of the number of issues involved. "Even the few who weren't that bothered about the destruction of the landscape were worried about their wells and the impact of the traffic on their quality of life." Local farmers have fears about water supplies for livestock, while a major stud owner has intimated that his well has been incapacitated.

Within three months of the Keegan application, Cemex (ROI) Ltd lodged an application on Good Friday 2007, seeking permission to extend its existing quarry which is adjacent to the Keegan Quarries Trammon site, by way of deepening the quarry.

Cemex is proposing to extract approximately nine million tonnes of limestone aggregate. Whereas the existing quarry sites are partially screened from the roadside by high earthen banks (although vast mounds of worked material are visible for miles around), the new proposals would have a dramatic visual impact. Local people fear a further increase in traffic volumes. "You would have to live here to appreciate exactly how much the quarries have destroyed our quality of life," says Cummins.

In June 2007, Meath County Council requested further information from Keegan Quarries Ltd, including "archaeological testing". A subsequent archaeological testing report commissioned by Keegan (not a full formal survey) unearthed two burial grounds dating back to the early medieval period. Within a narrow section of ground in the southern section of the site, opened by a mechanical digger, the remains of at least 13 individual burials were identified. At another, significantly larger location, some 160m to the north of the site, a further 29 bone concentrations were found - again by mechanical digger. A high number of other features were identified and the report, which runs to 50 pages, makes no claims as to being a complete survey. It repeatedly includes the phrase "not investigated during this phase of work". This could suggest that the Rathmolyon site is of significant archaeological importance and there is extensive evidence of layered settlement.

Further information was lodged by the applicant, Keegan Quarries Ltd, in September 2007. Within two months, and despite 154 individual objections, Meath County Council had granted full planning permission allowing the developer to tunnel under the road and construct an internal haulage road over the site. It was agreed that the two investigated sections of burial ground would be excluded from the proposed quarry - this decision meant that the remainder of the site would be lost to the quarry.

Meanwhile, condition 37 of the granted planning permission requested that Keegan Quarries Ltd should seek the written approval of Bord Gais Éireann in relation to its code of practice concerning blasting adjacent to the pipe line. But Bord Gais Éireann's code of practice specifically excludes mineral extraction, so the condition appears to make little sense. Nonetheless, the developer appealed it and other conditions. Bord Gais asked Keegan Quarries Ltd to liaise with it and to stage trial blasts.

Contacting Keegan Quarries, Rathmolyon, by phone is difficult. The lines are constantly busy and on occasion also ring out. On Wednesday July 2nd the phone was answered by a woman who on hearing the nature of my inquiry said: "John Keegan, the owner, would want to take the call." I left my number. A few hours later, I followed up my call and was told he was at a meeting but would phone me back. This time he did, asking why I'd called. I identified myself again and asked about the quarry in relation to the archaeological site and also the potential impact on the gas line. Keegan indicated that he would rather not comment on those issues.

He said, "You had better be careful what you say, you'd better be legal and correct, I'm telling you, I'll come down on you like a ton of bricks." The call ended before I could ask his views about local concerns over water supply and pollution.

On contacting Cemex ROI, I left several messages, which were eventually returned by the company's communications officer, Tina Hayes. I asked about local water pollution and the alleged dumping of quarry spoil. She expressed surprise that there were any problems in Rathmolyon, and said that Cemex enjoyed excellent relations with the community and that school children visited the quarries. Hayes confirmed that Cemex ROI operates 26 quarries North and South.

A representative from Cemex's PR company later confirmed that blocks had fallen from Cemex trucks and that they had been removed from the road within hours by Cemex staff. She stated that a letter had been sent to staff cautioning against driving through the village at speed. She also stated that Cemex had also recently resumed sweeping the village street.

"WE ALL KNOW that Co Meath is the story of ongoing heritage disasters," says Cummins, "but this has moved on to matters of human safety, never mind the water supply, water contamination, dust, noise, quality of life. I just can't understand how short-sighted it all is.

"Just one part of a generation has exploited the landscape, the building boom is over and we are left with a mess for those who come after us." Less than two miles outside the village, about 800m from the Trammon quarries, is Tobertynan Demesne. Once one of the great estates of Ireland, it features in the 18th century estate maps. In what was an expanse of ancient broadleaf woodland stands a shrine to Our Lady, erected by Edward MacEvoy and his wife, Eliza. Locals regularly pray here.

When the shrine was first erected in 1868 at the base of the tallest Scots pine, it was in the middle of the woods. Now, as a result of intensive sand and gravel quarrying, it is approaching the edge. Great broadleaf trees, although protected by order from being cut down, are instead falling like nine pins because the earth they are growing in is being pulled away by diggers.

Beyond the remains of the woodlands is the view across to Tobertynan House, a castellated, early 19th-century dwelling, built about 1810 by Francis MacEvoy, Edward's grandfather. It was once home to the fourth Duke de Stackpoole, and is distinguished by its dramatic battlements and turrets. Formerly overlooking a vast parkland, dividing the house from the woods, it now looks onto a quarry owned by Dixon Brothers, who have full planning permission for sand and gravel quarrying. The wasteland surface is relieved by several deep pools and the presence of pumping equipment. In recent months the quarry has extended its activities to limestone blasting. It is a dismal, deserted scene fringed by the fallen trees. Yet this is a working quarry. In the Meath County Development Plan, Tobertynan House is listed as a protected structure. Locals are concerned about the structural impact blasting may have on the house.

Several attempts were made to contact Meath Co Council's planning officer; the approaches were passed on to a press officer who has yet to return the calls.

WITHIN TWO WEEKS of Keegan Quarries Ltd being granted full planning permission, Cemex (ROI) was also granted full planning permission to extend its quarry by way of deepening its existing quarry which commenced operations from a greenfield site in 1998. Local objectors and environmentalists were incensed about the threat to the already vulnerable water table as well as the impact it would have on nearby Doolistown Bog, the remaining area of a much larger raised bog. It is of particular interest because of its pronounced hummock and hollow topography. There could be further ramifications for the Longwood aquifer which would then lead on to obvious parallels with Pollardstown Fen in Co Kildare.

Also vulnerable is the Trammon River, proposed as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). It features in the 2002 SAC plan proposed by Dúchas, the then heritage service.

A tributary of the Boyne, it is salmonid and has already suffered the effects of polluted water high in limestone sediment. The Rathmolyon Environmental Protection Alliance, concerned about threats to water supply and quality, commissioned a hydrology report for its own information, and to submit as part of its Bord Pleanála appeal.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), it has contacted the local authority, Meath County Council, on several occasions, dating from April 30th 2007, requesting information regarding a complaint received in relation to quarry spoil removed from a quarry and deposited outside a quarry premises. (see panel) The EPA has made repeated requests to Meath County Council which has advised that an investigation would be carried out, but to date the outcome of the investigation is still pending. In August 2007 Meath County council advised the EPA that it was awaiting the outcome of a similar case still pending. The EPA confirms that on July 2nd 2008 it received a second complaint, this time relating to water pollution of the Trammon River.

Hayes from Cemex ROI states, "If there is a group of people with a complaint, we'll be happy to meet with them." As to water pollution fears, she says, "Independent results to date on our discharge indicate that we are operating within our licensing limits." On quarry waste or spoil she says, "Any material leaving the site is sold. We don't dump waste."

Cummins, chairman of the Rathmolyon Environmental Protection Alliance, has overseen both of the alliance's pending appeals to An Bord Pleanála, but he notes that a recent environmental award has been presented by the Irish Concrete Federation to Cemex for its water management and ecological conservation.

Quarrying around Rathmolyon, Enfield and Trim seems like yet another variation on the changing Meath landscape which is increasingly becoming a series of mounds of waste, machinery, broken trees and polluted rivers.