CHASE Momentum Continues Ahead Of Big Day
Writes Jack White
Donations and Fundraisers Continuing
Momentum is continuing to build for CHASE ahead of the Judicial Review on July 19th, which will examine An Bord Pleanála’s terrible decision to grant permission for a waste incinerator in Ringaksiddy, despite widespread opposition.
The Judicial Review of the decision is a way for the High Court to supervise administrative bodies to ensure that they make their decisions properly and in accordance with the law. The Judicial review is primarily concerned with the decision-making process rather than with the substance of the decision and CHASE legal representatives are currently preparing a multi-faceted argument on how the decision was arrived at, to present to the judge.
The costly legal process for CHASE is being funded by donations from individuals both via Go Fund Me and directly to the bank account (details on page 3) and businesses all over the South Cork and Harbour region, along with a host of fundraisers and public meetings over the last few weeks.
A glimmer of hope for incinerator opponents, via legislation that was voted upon in Dail Eireann last week, came to light over the weekend, though it has since been played down by Tánaiste Simon Coveney. The bill which was passed by TD’s, would allow the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Simon Coveney) to overturn a decision of an Bord Pleanála where the security of the state was affected.
At the oral hearing in 2016, the Defence Forces did object to the incinerator.
Speaking at the weekend, The Green Party’s Lorna Bogue said, “The testimony of the Defence Forces outlined that a fire incident at the incinerator would block the exit to the naval base and trap personnel on the base. The Defence Forces further outlined that the plume from the incinerator would hamper the operations of the Air Corps and Indaver did not provide sufficient evidence to quash such a concern.”
Continuing, she said, “I am not asking him to overturn this application by himself. I am asking him to take the already existing advice of the Defence Forces and bring that to cabinet. I am asking him to recognise that the restriction of the operation of Ireland’s only naval base is very obviously a matter of national security and for a former Minister of Defence not to recognise that borders on the absurd.”
“Fianna Fail and Fine Gael insisted on pushing this piece of legislation through the Oireachtas without the usual checks and balances to deal with a perceived risk with the Russian embassy. Rather than using this law on some James Bond-esque caper, we could use this law to address a real national security threat.”
Reacting to the calls, Simon Coveney who’s himself an opponent of the incinerator said, “I think that would need to be on the back of quite significant advice from either the Defence Forces or An Garda Síochána that there really was an issue of national security, and I suspect the bar would be very high for that.”
Fundraising & Events
While a total figure of €150,000 – €200,000 needed by CHASE to fund the Judicial Review initially and potential further legal costs, fundraising events have been continuing with great pace all around Cork Harbour, the city and further afield.
Individual donations too are still coming in and CHASE are asking people to continue donating what they can to help stop the incinerator coming to Cork Harbour.
For a full list of fundraising events, visit the CHASE Facebook Page: @CHASECorkHarbour
A silent protest took place in Cork City on Saturday last to highlight opposition to the incinerator. There was a good turnout with all participants wearing white, mostly the official CHASE No Incinerator t-shirts, available from 4orm Clothing, Carrigaline.
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