THE Save Galway Bay group yesterday announced its intention to bring the Minister for the Environ meat to the European Court of Justice following his recent decision to proceed with the controversial Mutton Island sewage treatment plant without EU approval.
The group's secretary, Mr Derrick Hambleton, said the move was decided after spending a considerable time studying the impact of Mr Howlin's announcement to proceed with the Pounds 23 million project without EU cohesion funding and despite the European's Commission's environmental reservations about the development.
He stressed that while pursuing the court action, the group would be seeking "to speed construction of a sewage treatment plant at the alternative location recommended by the EU" near Galway port. The action, it is understood, will centre on EU provisions to protect marine coastal zones and its Habitats Directive which has yet to be incorporated into Irish law.
His "unpardonable decision" to allow construction had enraged not only environmentalists but many individuals and tourism interests who feel "it will spell disaster for tourism industry and the aesthetic beauty that is Galway Bay".
Mr Hambleton asks how Mr Howlin could still expect to receive funding for the project from the European Commission given what he had described as its "interference" on the project in recent months. The group also claimed that the Minister seemed to have ignored the recommendations of the British consultants, Water Research centre (WRc), in a report to the Commission, as had Galway Corporation in relation to the L.G. Mouchel report commissioned by the Save Galway Bay group.
It would take "just a year longer" to have the alternative option completed which would involve the retention of views of the bay, the preservation of the island's historic lighthouse and greater environmental protection, he said.
Mr Hambleton insisted there was no guarantee that a plant would be operational more quickly at Mutton Island given that the WRc saw the need for further examination of aspects of the project.