11.02.2004 -- Developers experience community backlash

Developers came face to face with concerned residents at Reenascreena Community Hall on Wednesday night during an information meeting designed to sell the proposed sludge drying plant at Sunny Rock to locals. Developers John and Sheila O'Regan were flanked by a team of experts at the meeting, but nonetheless failed to address the community's growing concerns about the proposed plant.

The O'Regans' business advisor, Mr Michael Murphy, chaired the 3½ hour meeting, but struggled from the outset to satisfactorily answer questions from the capacity crowd at the community centre. Time and again the trio of experts; comprising of Mr Murphy, environmental consultant Damien Brosnan, and the O'Regans' mechanical engineer; failed to answer seemingly straightforward questions from the floor about the proposed plant and it's impact on the local area. As residents became increasingly frustrated with the lack of answers the meeting grew heated and the community's growing opposition to the proposed plant became apparent.

The development team was unable to confirm the exact chemical make-up of emissions from the 15 metre (50 foot) chimney stack, or to give any tangible data on the direction and distance that these emissions would travel prior to settling to earth. There was little information on the composition of the sludge coming into the plant, other than that it would be from municipal and industrial waste water treatment plants in Cork. They were also unable to demonstrate any meterial benefit to the local community from such a plant, while the list of detrimental effects highlighted by residents was practically endless. At one point a resident calculated, based on the developers' own figures, that there would be approximately 140 truck movements per fortnight in and out of the plant. When asked how wide the articulated trucks delivering sludge to the plant would be Michael Murphy confirmed they would be 8ft wide... another resident then pointed out that the road at Sunny Rock was only 9ft wide -- leaving no room for even a bycicle to pass.

Increasing heavy traffic on narrow country roads, coupled with the potentially harmful nature of untreated sludge, and the fact that a possible route to the plant would take trucks past Reenascreena National School and Reenascreena Community Playschool, was one of the main concerns. Locals also questioned the wisdom of locating the plant next to a water source feeding into the Argideen river, which provides the drinking water for an area of West Cork stretching all the way from Cononnagh (between Rosscarbery and Leap) up to Courtmacsherry, and including Clonakilty.

The information meeting led to more questions than answers, a problem compounded by the fact that a copy of the planning file and associated environmental report is still unavailable to residents. Ultimately a show of hands showed that the vast majority of people present were completely opposed to the project and the developers were asked to reconsider their application in the wake of local opposition. Sheila O'Regan stated at the close of the meeting that she would not discuss the request at a public meeting, but would be happy to meet with the committee of Reenascreena Community Action Group to discuss the planning application.