By Jonathan Magee
DONEGAL County Councillors have called for a dedicated workshop to brief elected members on the environmental implications of a proposed gold mine close to the county’s border with Tyrone.
The call came at this week’s Lifford-Stranorlar Municipal District meeting, where concerns were again raised about the potential trans-boundary impact on waterways flowing into the Finn, Mourne and Foyle rivers from the proposed Dalradian Gold mine near Greencastle, 15 kilometres miles north-east of Omagh.
The Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) has reconvened in Omagh for six weeks of hearings into the proposals after proceedings were suspended last year.
The suspension followed concerns that the Irish Government had not been properly notified of the original inquiry, and that Donegal County Council had been given insufficient time to respond to cross-border environmental issues.
Donegal County Council is now preparing a submission to the PAC oral hearing.
Councillor Frank McBrearty, who proposed the workshop motion, said the council had been effectively shut out of the process from the outset.
“Donegal County Council never originally had any input. Planning and Environmental agencies should have been involved in that proposal.”
Cllr McBrearty argued that elected members, as non-specialists, needed expert guidance on the potential hazards associated with gold mining operations. He said the workshop would provide members with informed opinion on the environmental concerns that constituents had brought to his attention.
Councillor Martin Scanlon seconded the motion.
The PAC hearings centre on a large-scale underground gold mining project which environmentalists and cross-border community groups have long warned could pose significant risks to shared river systems and the wider Finn Valley catchment area.
The Council’s submission to the PAC is expected to reflect the trans-boundary environmental concerns raised by Donegal representatives.
Dalradian Gold Ltd has been trying to advance its plans for the mine since 2009.