Cork no events posted in last week
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony
Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony
Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony
RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony
Waiting for SIPO Anthony Public Inquiry >>
Promoting Human Rights in IrelandHuman Rights in Ireland >>
Global Warming is Mostly Caused By the Sun, Not Humans, Says Astrophysics Professor Wed Apr 23, 2025 19:00 | Hannes Sarv Up to two thirds of recent warming is because of the Sun, not humans, according to Astrophysics Professor Nir Shaviv. This means there is no climate emergency and we should adapt rather than curb CO2 emissions.
The post Global Warming is Mostly Caused By the Sun, Not Humans, Says Astrophysics Professor appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Professor Fired for Questioning Gender Ideology Wins $1.6 Million Settlement Wed Apr 23, 2025 17:00 | Dr Frederick Attenborough In a landmark victory for academic freedom, the University of Louisville will pay nearly $1.6m to a respected psychiatrist fired for questioning the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones on children.
The post Professor Fired for Questioning Gender Ideology Wins $1.6 Million Settlement appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Miliband Poised to Charge People in South More for Electricity Wed Apr 23, 2025 15:00 | Will Jones Ed Miliband is set to approve changes under which households in the South would pay more for electricity than those in Scotland and the North.
The post Miliband Poised to Charge People in South More for Electricity appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
US Companies Admit to Avoiding Hiring White Men Wed Apr 23, 2025 13:22 | Will Jones Hundreds of American companies have admitted to deliberately shunning white men for jobs due to DEI policies amid pressure to make workplaces more diverse, according to a survey.
The post US Companies Admit to Avoiding Hiring White Men appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Net Zero Plan to Blot Out Sun Using ?50 Million of Taxpayer Money Set to Be Approved Wed Apr 23, 2025 11:05 | Sallust A mad Net Zero plan to blot out the Sun using ?50 million of taxpayer money is set to receive experimental approval within weeks. What could go wrong? Except triggering the next ice age.
The post Net Zero Plan to Blot Out Sun Using ?50 Million of Taxpayer Money Set to Be Approved appeared first on The Daily Sceptic. Lockdown Skeptics >>
Voltaire, international edition
Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en
Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en
The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en Voltaire Network >>
|
Judicial Review For Dursey Island Cable Car And Visitors Centre
cork |
environment |
press release
Tuesday January 25, 2022 22:38 by foie

‘INEXPLICABLE IRRATIONALITY’ IN DURSEY ISLAND CABLE CAR & VISITORS CENTRE APPROVAL CLAIM IN HIGH COURT JUDICIAL REVIEW CLAIMS ALTERNATIVE PLAN TO €10M DURSEY ISLAND CABLE CAR NEVER ASSESSED
JUDICIAL REVIEW CLAIMS ALTERNATIVE PLAN TO €10M DURSEY ISLAND CABLE CAR NEVER ASSESSED
An Bord Pleanála’s decision to approve a €10m visitors centre and cable car for Dursey Island in west Cork may face a Judicial Review after Friends of the Irish Environment [FIE] were given permission today by High Court Justice Niamh Hyland to bring an application on 31 January, 2022. JUDICIAL REVIEW CLAIMS ALTERNATIVE PLAN TO €10M DURSEY ISLAND CABLE CAR NEVER ASSESSED
An Bord Pleanála’s decision to approve a €10m visitors centre and cable car for Dursey Island in west Cork may face a Judicial Review after Friends of the Irish Environment [FIE] were given permission today by High Court Justice Niamh Hyland to bring an application on 31 January, 2022.
Cork County Council and Fáilte Ireland applied to An Bord Pleanala to replace the existing 6-person cable car with a two-cars desynchronised reversible cable car system capable of carrying 650 people an hour. The permission includes an extensive glass-fronted visitor centre with a gift shop and 84-person cafe on the mainland with parking for 80 cars and buses. The 6 km access road is to be improved with 10 passing bays.
Friends of the Irish Environment, An Taisce and Birdwatch Ireland all appealed against the grant of permission by Cork County Council in 2019. The groups called the proposal “Undesirable on multiple grounds", citing the “ecological sensitivity of Dursey” as well as the narrow stretch of road linking it to national network making it “unsuitable for a proposal of this scale.”
No Management Plan
Objections centred on the protection of the Special Area of Conservation and Special Protection Area for Birds, in particular the rare choughs. In their objection Birdwatch Ireland said there has been a 30% drop in the numbers of Chough, a species with special protection under national and EU law, on the island since 2003. The organisation pointed out ‘The lack of conservation objectives for the site and the lack of an existing visitor management plan or SPA management plan means that there is no pathway for long term Chough conservation through which the proposed development could fit.’
The An Bord Pleanala Inspector, who visited the island twice, showed in two Reports that the developer’s calculations of the impact of visitors which was based on Quessant Island off the Brittany Coast which also hosts chough species ‘cannot be relied on for a number of reasons.’
The ‘pro-rata calculation methodology’ for the visitor numbers allowed by French authorities that led to the Board’s decision to cap the visitor numbers at just 5,000 visitors a month or 60,000 a year ‘misrepresent the foraging area’ with assertions ‘put forward without scientific basis’, leading to the Inspector’s conclusion that ‘it is not possible to rely on the numerical visiting capacity arrived at for Dursey Island’.
The Board’s Inspector twice recommended refusal citing the flaws in the Appropriate Assessment, saying that he was ‘not satisfied beyond reasonable scientific doubt, that adverse effects on the integrity of the Beara Peninsula SPA or the Kenmare River SAC can be excluded.’
However the Board stated that it ‘accepted and adopted the Appropriate Assessment carried out in the Inspectors Report’ but nonetheless approved the proposal in what FIE Director Tony Lowes said was ‘an inexplicable irrationality’. In deciding not to accept the Inspector’s recommendation to refuse permission, the Board Order states it ‘noted and acknowledged the inconsistent methodology and incorrect data but considered that ‘capping the visitor numbers and significant mitigation measures would address these issues’.
Alternatives not assessed
Friends of the Irish Environment, whose offices are on the Beara Peninsula near the development, said that they had found after a visit to the Board’s Dublin offices that their files contained an alternative proposal which was prepared in April 2013 by consultants on behalf of Cork County Council.
The ’Dursey Island and Cable Car Strategic Review’, described by the Council as a ‘feasibility study’, outlines an upgrade of the existing cable car at a then estimated cost of €600,000 instead of the approved proposal which it is now estimated would cost €10 million. This alternative, which would satisfy the urgent need for a replacement of the existing cable car, was never assessed in the 2019 Environmental Impact Assessment as an alternative. ‘combined with the recommended electronic signage at the main road and in Castletownbere and Glengarriff show waiting times, this alternative was never considered
In its appeal against the project, FIE cited the ‘Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape’ from Cork University Press which says ‘Irish tourism now faces a crossroads. It remains confused as to whether the country should aspire to be a cheap mass-market destination, or expensive high-end niche market’.
In its appeal, An Taisce suggested that ‘The model for the future of tourism investment in West Cork should be non-car-based and promote longer stays accommodated in locations to a level commensurate with the capacity of the host environment rather than the high-volume car or bus-based day trip model upon which the subject project is based’.
ENDS
Contact: Friends of the Irish Environment 353 (0)87 2176316 / 353 (0)27 74771
Advisory on original appeal: https://www.friendsoftheirishenvironment.org/17721-leading-environment-groups-oppose-7m-dursey-island-mass-tourism-project
Copyright © 2022 Friends of the Irish Environment, All rights reserved.
Press Release
Our mailing address is:
Friends of the Irish Environment
Kilcatherine
Eyeries, Cork P75 CX53
Ireland
|