Madam, – Readers may draw the wrong conclusion from your coverage (Home News, July 8th) of Ballyvaughan’s rejection of Organic Power’s renewable energy proposal.
Rather than an example of ignorant culchies selfishly rejecting the needs of the larger society, it represented to my bemused US eyes a sophisticated response to Ireland’s overly centralised planning process, exemplified by the Mullaghmore fiasco.
Ballyvaughan’s village development committee organised a community meeting for Organic Power to present its proposal and to respond to questions from the audience. The committee then organised a subsequent meeting at which pro bono speakers – an archaeologist (on sites to be affected); a geologist (on drilling in limestone); an environmental planner (on steps to be taken to secure approval to work in a specially protected zone) and a financial analyst (on Organic Powers’ corporate filings at Leinster House) – each gave an objective evaluation of the proposals from their perspective. Rural communities without a formal political structure could well follow Ballyvaughan’s example by forming a community development committee. – Yours, etc,
