A NUMBER of councillors in Galway city, including the mayor, have criticised members of the Save Galway Bay environmental group who protested outside the City Hall about the decision to proceed with the controversial £23 million Mutton Island sewage treatment plant.
The Mayor, Councillor Micheal O hUiginn (FF), said he was aware that some councillors had been "pushed and shoved" by protesters as they made their way into a corporation meeting.
Alderman Martin Connolly (PD) and Councillor Padraic McCormack (FG) said they were pushed as they entered the building.
"I do believe that the councillors opposing Mutton Island have misled people into believing that there could be a change of heart," Mr McCormack said. "I think it's time some people accepted the democratic decision of the council."
A spokesman for the environmental group, Mr Derrick Hambleton, strongly rejected any suggestion of physical confrontation.
While there had been robust verbal exchanges", the members of the group were simply availing of their democratic right to protest and had received no complaints from the four gardai present.
More than 500 people took part in the torch lit protest march on Monday night when a letter of appeal was handed in to the mayor, requesting that the corporation reconsider its decision to locate the treatment plant at Mutton Island in Galway Bay.
The protesters were met by a smaller group of fewer than 100 people who advocated that the plant proceed on the basis that it would bring an end to the discharge of raw sewage into the bay.
This second group was composed of residents from Renmore who are opposed to locating the plant in Galway port close to their area. The European Commission has suggested that this option be further examined.
Following the recent decision by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin, to proceed with the project without EU funds, the environmental group claimed in the letter to the mayor that the action was against independent advice, and that locating near Laugh Atalia was "financially, technically and environmentally as suitable if not mare suitable" than locating on an island in Galway Bay.
