Decision on meat plant's proposed pipeline into River Boyne due tomorrow

A decision is due tomorrow on whether a controversial planning application for the construction of an industrial pipeline to discharge waste water from a meat plant into the River Boyne will get the go ahead.

414 submissions were received during the public consultation of the application.

Residents, local politicians, business owners, angling groups and Slane Castle owner Lord Henry Mountcharles have all spoken out against the plans.

A Facebook page set up to highlight the issue called ‘Save the Boyne’ where many locals have voiced their anger at the plans currently has over 8000 followers.

A petition on change.org with the same title has received nearly 6000 signatures.

Concerns had been raised that water quality for more than 25,000 home and businesses could be at risk if the proposed pipeline gets the green light.

More than 25,000 homes in East Meath and South Louth get their drinking water supply from the Boyne.

The famous river made headlines last week when a bottlenose dolphin nick named 'Kevin Costner' believed to be 7ft long was spotted in the Boyne in Drogheda much to the delight of shocked on lookers.

Concerns had also been raised about the impact to wildlife including salmon and Lampreys, a species older than the dinosaurs.

Hayestown resident Padraic Gilligan previously explained why the locality is against the development, he said:

“The river Boyne is a Special Area of Conservation and home to a number of EU protected species.

“The environmental impact study submitted by Dawn Meats in support of the application states it cannot guarantee water quality during the eight-month construction stage.”

“The previous owners of this meat plant were fined €5,000 in 2017 for a serious pollution incident, the Environmental Protection Agency described the event as “unauthorised emission of untreated slaughter process effluent was discharged to a surface water drain from the installation.”

Ken Reilly from the Boyne Catchment Anglers Association said he was hopeful that Meath County Council would “make the right decision.”