The diocese of Killaloe was criticised yesterday for lodging an objection against a compulsory purchase order (CPO) for a €25 million sewage treatment plant for Ennis.
The treatment plant was aimed at addressing the continuing pollution of the River Fergus from Ennis's creaking sewage works system.
Last year Clare County Council secured planning permission for the proposal and in April issued a CPO for 7½ acres of diocesan-owned land at Clareabbey, outside Ennis, to allow the project proceed.
However, the St Flannan's Killaloe Diocesan Trust, along with one other landowner, formally objected to the CPO, precipitating an An Bord Pleanála oral hearing on the issue that is due to be held in Ennis next month.
Yesterday, Green Party councillor Brian Meaney criticised the diocese's move. "The treatment works are urgently required and by lodging the objection, the diocese has helped to delay the provision of the much- needed facilities," he said.
"The diocese has sold on the lands that are subject of the CPO to a private developer. Surely it would have been far better in the interests of the common good if the lands had been sold directly to the county council."
In June, the diocese sold 35 acres of land, including the 7½ acres that are the subject of the CPO, to a private developer for €8½ million. The money is to be spent on St Flannan's College, in accordance with a stipulation by the farmer who bequeathed the lands.
A diocesan spokesman yesterday stressed that the diocese never had any objection to the siting of the plant. The objection was primarily to the buffer zone surrounding the proposed plant which would render the lands worthless or, at the very least, decrease their true value.
