A case brought to the High court by the Gort Biogas Concern Group CLG and the Burren Lowlands CLG against the decision of An Board Pleanála to grant permission to build an industrial scale Biogas Facility in the town of Gort has reached conclusion, with An Board Pleanála conceding.

The case is the culmination of five-year campaign fought by the people of South Galway against this development, and has been received with great joy by people from the town. Gort Biogas Concern Group member Ciaran O’Donnell said “this is a win for common sense, industrial developments of this scale belong in industrial settings. Galway County Council got it right, and refused planning, it took ABP a bit longer to reach the same thinking, and we had to fight it all the way”.

Gort Biogas Concern group, composed entirely of volunteer effort, raised the funds from donations from the community to mount the legal challenge. The group has been clear from the onset that there is a place for Anaerobic technology, if scaled to the local area and with local needs considered. Industrial developments of this scale would financially benefit a few individuals but impact everyone living in or visiting the town. The scale of the proposed plant matched the size of our neighboring town of Kinvara and would be located just 800m from Gort’s town square. The potential impact on the environment was too great given the importance of local area and karst landscape, feeding into the pristine Coole-Garryland SAC complex. The long term viability of the town was also at stake, being unable to realise the full potential of local heritage and to capitalise on its position in the Burren Lowlands. The people of Gort support a vision of long term stability and viability, driven by input and engagement.

O’Donnell continued “the unrelenting and endless support of the people of south Galway made this happen and we will remain vigilant for this and other such similar developments that threaten the local environment and the viability of the town to thrive and prosper into the future”.