This article is from page 6 of the 2006-06-20 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
CLARE County Council is once again preparing to take legal action to stop quarrying at a facility located in Ruan. The quarry, at Moymore in Ruan, was the subject of an unsuccessful legal attempt by the local authority to halt quarrying in 2004.
A number of local residents received letters from the council last week asking them to complete sworn affidavits ahead of the instigation of High Court proceedings. According to the letter sent to eight Ruan locals, the council is to seek an injunction on the grounds of alleged “continued development in breach of planning permission”.
The quarry is currently listed in the name of Harry Tobin Sand and Gravel Ltd., with an address at Gardenhill, Castleconnell, in County Limerick. The council’s previous action to stop quarrying at the site was taken against Ennis Quarries Ltd, which listed John and Joseph Tobin as its directors.
The case was refused jurisdiction in the District Court by Judge Joseph Mangan in March of 2004. It then became the responsibility of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to pursue the matter in the Circuit Court.
This case ended in a ‘nolle prosequi’ with no prosecution being brought against the defendants.
Ruan man, Gerry O’Connor, whose land borders the quarry, is supporting the council in their action.
“Now that the blasting has stopped, the main concerns felt by locals are noise, dust and the heavy vehicles, which are operating on narrow roads and are very dangerous,” said Mr O’Connor.
“There is a real fear that the blasting will start again. When the blasting was going on, boulders used to be blown into neighbouring fields all around the quarry.
“When the DPP took over the case, we decided to sit back and let them deal with it,” continued Mr O’Connor. “The DPP made no contact with any of the local residents and then we heard that the case had collapsed. We were never told why this happened and there are a lot of locals who are very upset about it.”
Planning permission was granted to operate a quarry for reclamation purposes at the Moymore site in 2000.
This entitled the operators to quarry to a depth of 18 feet. However, it is alleged that the quarry is being operated in breach of the conditions of this planning permission.
The Clare People contacted Joseph Tobin of Harry Tobin
Sand and Gravel Ltd., who de clined to make a comment. The Planning Section of Clare County Council also declined to make any statement on the matter.