De Burca accuses Wicklow County Council of refusing to consider alternative sites for Arklow Sewage Treatment Plant

"The battle over where the proposed sewerage treatment plant should be located has raged for nearly ten years now" says de Burca. "Meanwhile the people of Arklow suffer with raw sewage floating in the Bay. It is unacceptable and every efforts should be made by Wicklow County Council to play its part in identifying an alternative site for the plant so that it can be developed as soon as possible. Instead the council has dug its heels in and seems determined to insist on the current controversial site, even though it means depriving the people of Arklow of proper sewage treatment facilities for the forseeable future".

The Green Party councillor says she cannot understand how the current site at Seabank was chosen as the original site for the Arklow Sewage treatment plant. "This is the last remaining intact beach in Arklow" she says. "It is a place of great beauty and the grey dunes behind the beach have been designated a National Heritage Area. Wicklow County Council is proposing to build the sewage treatment plant next to the beach, and to dig up the beach to bury the outflow pipes. If this goes ahead, it represents another act of environmental vandalism on the part of the council".

Councillor de Burca points out that as a growing town, there are many alternative industrial sites in Arklow that would be more suitable for the treatment plant. In particular she points to the IFI site which lies vacant at present, and parts of which are already being bid for by potential developers. "Surely this site would be the ideal localion for the sewage treatment plant" she says. "It strikes me that the priority of Wicklow County Council is not to progress the plant as quickly as possible but rather to 'win' the long battle that has taken place over the proper location of the plant".

Councillor de Burca has also strongly criticised the recent contributions to the debate over the Arklow sewage treatment plant by local Fine Gael councillor, Sylvester Bourke. "Given that Councillor Burke has had 85 acres of his farmland which is adjacent to the controversial Seabank site rezoned as commercial land, I do not feel he can speak objectively or impartially about this matter" she says. "In future if he is going to speak about this matter on the local radio station, I feel he should declare his development interest in land adjacent to the proposed site for the sewage treatment plant". Councillor de Burca is also encouraging as many Arklow residents as possible to attend the Oral Hearing on the issue on November 15th in the Arklow Bay Hotel.

For further information please contact:

Deirdre de Burca on 086-806 1450; email: deburca@wicklowgreens.org