MORE than four years of “living hell” are to come to an end for two Waterford brothers following a Bord Pleanála ruling this week that the ESB must remove two steel pylons, which were erected by the company without planning permission.

The decision by An Bord Pleanála in relation to the enforcement of the Irish language conditions when granting planning permission is both significant and perplexing.

U2 BAND member David Evans — The Edge — was in the High Court yesterday for the second day of a hearing on his challenge to a Bord Pleanála decision.

PLANS to build a €300 million windfarm in Co Mayo are in doubt as fears grow that planning permission for the development will be appealed to Bord Pleanala.

A MAN has lost a bid to have either the Supreme Court or the European Court of Justice decide legal issues arising from his unsuccessful bid to bring a legal challenge to the granting of planning permission for a gas terminal in connection with the Corrib gas field.

AN Bord Pleanála confirmed yesterday that it has received objections to two so-called ‘green projects’ in Co Cork.

ANYONE refused planning permission by a local authority has little chance of winning with An Bord Pleanála because he or she does not have the resources to employ an architect, engineer or environmental health officer to get the advice needed to overturn the decision.

KERRY County Council yesterday gave the all-clear for the biggest-ever wind farm in the county, to be developed at a cost of €70m.

THE EPA seems almost certain to grant a license to the proposed incinerator at Ringaskiddy on the basis of An Bord Pleanála’s decision.

THE inability of two senior heritage officials to attend and give evidence to the Oireachtas Environment Committee hearing on the proposed M3 (Clonee-to-Kells) motorway is of serious concern on two levels.

RINGASKIDDY is not a backyard, it is a gateway. And it is no ordinary gateway because it opens onto the ocean.

AT the start of George Orwell’s magnificent novel 1984, its anti-hero Winston Smith hears the loudspeakers drone that Oceania is at war with Eurasia and in alliance with Eastasia.

OBJECTORS are expected to take their fight against a €14.5 million water scheme to the courts after Bord Pleanála granted Cork County Council a conditional order to proceed with the project.

BUCK-PASSING is the name of the game as flood waters continue to ravage Irish cities and towns.

CURBS are to be imposed by Killarney Town Council on the building of offices and apartments in housing estates.

AN BORD Pleanála has been heavily criticised for refusing planning permission for a €25 million five-star hotel in Kinsale.

IT would seem that “archaeological significance” carries a different meaning in different areas of this little island.

ADDITIONAL State- owned land around the country is to be made available for affordable housing, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern confirmed yesterday.

A €45 million hospital and radiotherapy development for Waterford has been given the green light by planners clearing the way for work to begin next month.