Thank you to Dawn Meats and Meath County Council’s Planning Department for Services to the Community
By Aidan Ring
Author’s Notes: These views are mine alone and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone else involved in the Save the Boyne campaign
I would like to thank Dawn Meats and Meath County Council’s Planning Department for their unintended yet excellent work in uniting and mobilising a local community against environmental and social injustice.
Dawn Meats’ pipeline proposal, now rubber-stamped by MCC’s Planning Department, will have several profoundly negative consequences if built; the pipeline itself would discharge half a million litres per day of meat factory effluent into the natural, cultural and economic treasure that is the Boyne. Thus, it would threaten one of Ireland’s most biodiverse regions. It would also endanger the drinking water of tens of thousands of homes and, in so doing, the entire proposal subverts a vast array of national and international laws through its vagueness, its internal inconsistency and the lack of legal precedent (e.g. the plan directly contradicts the EU Water Quality Frameworks Directive which says that Ireland has to aim for ‘good’ quality water in its waterways by 2027, private companies have never had permission to dig up public roads to build pipelines etc.) But one crucial thing which was not included in any proposal document but which is, so far perhaps, the most impressive outcome of this proposal, is how it has mobilised a swift, unimagined and powerful community resistance. The main platform that this resistance grew from was the Save the Boyne Facebook page which now has nearly 10,000 members and has subsequently spawned a website with a GoFundMe, and a range of events, actions and subgroups.
Initially, when I received the letter in the post in early May that MCC’s Planning Department had approved the proposal, I was nauseous and despairing. Perhaps the worst thing about this piece of paper, however, was the emotion it did not inspire – surprise. It did not surprise me that corporate interests had been favoured over the public interest; this is nothing new. What does puzzle me is how any professional from MCC’s Planning Department could have gone through people’s extensive and detailed objections and still concluded that the plan was fine. It is so clearly against the public interest, not to mention being legally indefensible, that we do genuinely wonder if many of the objections were read at all (when asked, the Planning Department were unwilling to comment or provide any meaningful description of the decision-making process).
But I was not alone in my anger and this is why I must thank Dawn Meats and MCC. This issue seems to have opened the floodgates for local people’s rage and determination, in opposition, to flow through. The anger stems from a sad realisation - that communities affected cannot count on help from their governmental institutions, such as MCC’s Planning Department and An Bord Pleanála (it is no secret that trust in An Bord Pleanála is at an all-time low). Indeed, we now realise that we have to do it ourselves. But, accompanying this sad realisation is a profoundly positive one; we can do it ourselves. After our last meeting, I was deeply inspired. The issue has brought together a community of very educated, skilled and tenacious people. And these skills will be necessary.
I wish to stress that there are many excellent local area representatives involved with this issue who do unequivocally champion the causes of those they represent. These representatives work tirelessly and sincerely on behalf of their communities and the idea that their work could be so easily overridden via a planning proposal approved at the stroke of a pen by the Planning Department of their own council, without a hint of proper dialogue, is a deep flaw in the structure of local government… but that’s another discussion!
The overarching truth is that citizens on the ground, whether they be anglers, ramblers, local business owners or just people living in the area, engage with these natural resources every day and, thus, can be much better stewards of them than Dawn Meats ever could be. The question then becomes whether or not we as a society will rise up to defend these natural resources and, in so doing, become those stewards. I see us doing that. Dawn Meats export their products all over the world, marketing them on the image of grassfed beef from Ireland’s lush green countryside, countryside they then proceed to pollute. We, on the other hand, are a group of concerned citizens who really do love this river and lush, green countryside and want to protect it for our children meaning we will fight tooth and nail to do so. More broadly, this environmental case could become a watershed moment in Ireland by setting precedents for our protection of water sources and biodiversity. If this does happen, it will mean that Dawn Meats, ironically, have rendered an invaluable service to our waterways, worthy of an entire gift package! But until that time, I must thank Dawn Meats and Meath County Council’s Planning Department for mobilising this group of dedicated, knowledgeable citizens to join the fight for a better future. I initially felt like ripping up this letter or burning it. But now, I have hung it on my wall as a reminder of what it represents.
Well done Dawn and MCC Planning Department, keep up the ‘important’ work, we couldn’t Save the Boyne without you!
