Dismay and anger over decision to allow meat plant discharge waste water into the Boyne

The Save the Boyne group has expressed its dismay at a decision by Meath County Council to grant permission to Dawn Meats permitting them to discharge commercial waste water into the Boyne.

Concerned residents who had submitted objections to the plan for the industrial pipeline running from their site at Beauparc to discharge treated wastewater into the river Boyne at the Cotton Mills received letters from the council outlining the position this week.

The proposal had met with fierce local opposition - 414 submissions were received by the council during the public consultation of the application.

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

A Facebook page set up under the 'Save The Boyne' banner has over 8,700 members with many venting their anger at the council decision which allows the meat processing facility to construct a treated wastewater main pipeline from its Beauparc site into a new discharge point at the River Boyne, covering a distance of up to 7.2km.

The planning application sets out that the pipeline shall be laid along a section of Windmill Road, the L1013, Yellow Furze Road, the L1600 (Boyne Road), and the unnamed local road leading from the L1600 to the private lands abutting the River Boyne at the discharge point.

Commenting on the Save the Boyne Group's facebook page, Tommy Martin said:

"Just want to share my total disbelief and confusion as why Meath Co Council have approved this planning request. It is strange that I did note the lack of political interest in this second round as compared to when we first started this campaign.

"We must now show solidarity. We must organise and be smarter going forward. We have expertise in the group. We cannot rely on our politicians to stand up and represent our objections.

"As for the members of Meath Co Council now is time for transparency. Each member now publicly should state their position and how they acted in regards to its proposal. It is truly a sad day in the history of the Boyne."

Aontu rep for the Slane area Peter Whelan who has been a vocal campaigner against the pipeline plan said the community was "shocked and disappointed" by the planning approval and vowed that the campaigners would regroup to look at their options including appealing the decision and gathering together whatever expertise they can on the matter.

People wishing to appeal the decision to An Bord Pleanala now have four weeks to do so but Mr Whelan said the costs of appealing were very unfair whereby it was 220euros per individual while an observer can be added to an appeal submission for 50euros.

UPDATE 13:20 29/4/22

In a statement to Meath Chronicle, Dawn Meats said:

"The planning application process for this multi-million Euro investment in waste water treatment is ongoing. We believe it will have a positive impact through the removal of tanker traffic from local roads, and third-party studies, including a Natura Impact Statement, have assessed no negative impact on the river Boyne or surrounding habitats.

"Our site in Slane is fully licensed by the Environmental Protection Agency, who we engage with regularly, and the new equipment will clean waste water to international best practice standards."

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