Irish €500m wastewater plant plan quashed as legally flawed

Irish Water’s plans to ease the pressure at its largest wastewater plant, Ringsend in Dublin, have been thrown into disarray by a High Court judgement.

The Ringsend facility provides over 40% of the country’s wastewater treatment capacity but is currently overloaded and not in compliance with European Union regulations.

A year ago the part publicly-owned company obtained planning permission from An Bord Pleanála (ABP), the county’s independent planning agency, for a new €500m wastewater treatment plant at Clonshaugh near Dublin airport. This scheme was designed to intercept and treat wastewater which would otherwise have gone to the Ringsend plant before discharging the treated wastewater out to sea.

However a High Court judge has quashed the permission on the grounds that ABP had failed to obtain the views of the Environmental Protection Agency on the likely impact of the discharges. This was legally required under the country’s Waste Water Discharge Regulations.

On that basis only, the planning approval was legally flawed and had to be quashed, he ruled.

The legal challenge was mounted by a daily sea swimmer concerned at the impact of the outfall discharges on environmentally sensitive areas off the coast.

The judge is due to rule shortly whether the ABP can reconsider its decision or if the project must go back to the drawing board.