State’s energy management criticised
Enterprise Ireland yesterday invited expressions of interest from suitably qualified firms willing to study Ireland’s current and projected ability to use bio-refining processes to turn wastes of various kinds into heat and power, biofuels and value-added products such as fine chemicals, plastics, neutraceuticals and feed additives.
The launch of the Enterprise Ireland tender came just five months after another state agency, An Bord Pleanála, spent more than a year deliberating before turning down a project that would have turned 300,000 tonnes of potentially harmful chicken litter into enough electricity to supply half of Co Monaghan.
That project would have taken poultry litter, mushroom waste and willow from Monaghan, Cavan, Tyrone and Fermanagh and generated 22.5 megawatts of power.
However, during the past 14 years the owners of the plant, Maurice and Aiden McCarron, say they faced a number of stumbling blocks from state agencies — among them a two-year wait while boundary issues were argued over.
Bord Pleanála finally rejected the project on the grounds of an inadequate road network and potential water run off, factors the McCarrons say could have been dealt with by condition with planning approval.
Now, according to Maurice McCarron thousands of tonnes of chicken waste formerly spread on lands around Monaghan and Cavan are being exported to other counties because it has caused too much pollution in Monaghan and Cavan.
The McCarrons are still determined their project will go ahead and are seeking a judicial review of the planning board’s decision.
