An Taisce's decision to contest the High Court's decision to allow Glanbia's Cheese Plant to be built is 'an attack on young farmers' according to a Waterford Senator.
The body is against the building of a 140 million euro Cheese Factory at the Port of Waterford in Belview.
On Friday, the environmental awareness charity said it had ‘no option but to challenge the judgement’ as it would set a precedent of ‘lowering environmental standards’.
The proposed development is a joint venture between Glanbia and a Dutch dairy processor.
An Taisce is concerned the level of milk production needed to service the plant would ‘add to the perilous state of Ireland’s carbon and pollution footprint’.
Fine Gael Ministers and Senators have said the body is 'alienating the profession which has the most influence over the environment.
Waterford Senator John Cummins raised the issue in the Seanad and said Waterford farmers have done everything they can to change.
Senator The Fine Gael Senator also questioned An Taisce's role as a semi-state funded body.
"We now have a farcical situation where an entity which has received significant state funding is prolonging a court action against another state-funded entity.
"An Taisce claims in its statement that it's appealing in 'the public interest and 'to promote human and eco-system well-being resilience for the benefit of the nation.
"In my experience Waterford farmers have always been willing to diversify, and I believe this is an attack on rural Ireland and I'm particularly concerned about young farmers, who've invested heavily in recent years," Seantor Cummins said.
Waterford farmers have done everything they can to change according to the Waterford Senator.
"I think it's important to put this project into context: the plant is critical for market diversification post-Brexit and the two-year delay thus far in appeals to An Bord Pleanála and judicial reviews to the High Court has already resulted in supply restrictions being implemented from next year on farmers.
"It's bad news for farmers, bad news for rural communities and it's going to hurt Ireland's reputation for much needed FDI," Senator Cummins said.
Meanwhile, the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) have been extremely critical of the court appeal and this afternoon issued a number of questions they want An Taisce to answer, including 'Why won’t An Taisce accept decisions of the statutory planning appeals body An Bord Pleanala? Or the High Court?' and 'How are they funding the court actions?'
IFA President Tim Cullinan said: “I wrote to An Taisce a number of months ago seeking to meet them on this and they refused to do so. I eventually, through persistence, met one of their senior members on two occasions who advised me that An Taisce wanted to make a stand,”
“An Taisce has a privileged position as a prescribed body under the Planning Acts. In my view, they are abusing this privilege. Their new constitution raises serious issues about their remit and their democratic mandate,” he said.
