Don’t blame slug for road plan delay

YOUR report of last week’s meeting of Kerry County Council treated us to a re-run of the ‘environmentalist and the snail’ story (Snail blamed for delays to Cork-Kerry road plan, June 22). We were told a judicial review on behalf of the snail by “environmentalists” was holding up the road.

The judicial review that is currently delaying the road has been taken by residents near Carrigaphooca Castle. The grounds are an error in law relating to the assessment of the impact, the failure of the OPW (who own the castle on our behalf) to make a submission, and rights of way. It has nothing to do with the protected Kerry slug.

A survey was finally triggered at the planning stage by environmentalists’ whistle blowing in Brussels. The survey revealed that this area of the woodland was as worthy of protection as the other side of the road, which was designated as an SAC under the Habitats Directive in the late 1990’s.