Activists say cow dung throwing incident has 'drowned out' their concerns

A local man threw bags of cow excrement at Junior Minister Anne Rabbitte, above, and Ciarán Gannon TD at a public meeting organised by Gort Biogas Concern Group. Picture: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie

Activists opposed to the construction of a biogas plant in Gort, Co Galway, say the throwing of a bag of cow dung at two TDs at a local meeting has “drowned out” their concerns.

Gort Biogas Concern Group said it condemns the act “in the strongest possible terms” and noted that the man in question is in no way attached to it.

However, David Murray said the incident has overshadowed the group's concerns saying: “It’s disgraceful behaviour but we’ve lost our voice in it.”

At the public meeting which was organised by the group, a local man threw two bags of cow excrement at Junior Minister Anne Rabbitte and Fine Gael TD Ciarán Cannon. He is now under Garda investigation.

The man who threw the bags, Joseph Baldwin (38), of Ballyaneen, Gort, said he would not apologise “until they apologise for not providing a proper service as politicians” to Gort.

He told RTÉ radio he used two small zip-sealed bags of “dry manure” that he took from his backyard.

“At the end of the day, what do you do to make your point because the politicians aren’t listening,” he said, adding that he still stands by what he did.

Legal challenge to biogas plant

Gort Biogas Concern Group has gathered over €44,000 in funding to legally challenge An Bord Pleanála’s granting of the application which will see the construction of a biogas plant on a 10-hectare site.

The planning application for the plant which was submitted by Sustainable Bio-Energy Ltd will use anaerobic digestion technology to produce renewable energy and organic fertiliser.

It was previously refused by Galway County Council for several reasons including potentially creating “dangerous and conflicting traffic movements”.

Mr Murray said traffic issues as a result of the “massive industrial-sized” plant is a primary concern for locals as well as the potential odours associated with the plant.

“You have to feed the beast,” he said before adding, “the plant is designed to take in 90,000 tonnes every year, bring it through and extract methane and carbon dioxide and then on the output, they’re going to generate about 150,000 tonnes of digested fertiliser per year.” 

Due to the “trucking in and out” involved in the process, Mr Murray said the town will have a “significant traffic problem”.

We’re very concerned about HGV (heavy goods vehicles) traffic for people’s health, safety and annoyance in terms of having to queue.

An Bord Pleanála’s decision set out some conditions to address concerns raised and said traffic impacts would be mitigated by “the design of the proposed entrance and the control of haulage vehicle type and routes”. 

Mr Murray said the conditions outlined are “not realistic”.

He said the planned plant is “too close” to the town and is just ten metres from Gort river, 100m from the nearest home and 400m from the nearest housing estate.

“There is going to be health concerns in terms of nauseous gases and it also produces a substantial amount of odour,” he said before describing it as a “smelly process”.

Mr Murray said the town is used to the smell of slurry “once a year” but fears the plant would make it a consistent reality in the town.

He said locals believe the plant will “ruin” the town’s culture, attraction and its future, losing hundreds of hospitality jobs in the process and causing house prices near the plant to plummet.

Sustainable Bio-Energy Ltd did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publishing.