A court challenge that has stalled plans to house up to 1,000 male asylum seekers on a State-owned north Co Dublin site alleges breaches of environmental laws and pressure on transport and wastewater services.
Local group SMTW Environmental DAC also says that without strict control measures, there is a “significant” risk the 1,000 men who are free to walk along local rural roads that have no footpaths will create a nuisance to the local population of about 300 residents.
The group claims Minister for Integration Roderick O’Gorman incorrectly granted a statutory instrument confirming the Thornton Hall development did not need to be subject to two types of environmental assessment and An Bord Pleanála approval.
In an affidavit, Liam O’Gradaigh, who is a director and member of SMTW, said the group issued its case over “serious concerns regarding the lawful sustainability of the process” leading to the Minister’s signing of the statutory instrument.
He said he finds it “very troubling” that there is such a “paucity of information” about how the Minister determined that the environmental assessments and planning application were not required.
On Monday, barrister David O’Brien, for SMTW, told the High Court that the Minister has agreed to revoke his statutory instrument. The court heard this revocation had not yet been exercised.
The first 40 international protection applicants were initially due to be housed in tents on the 160-acre site in August, with this due to increase to 400 by October and to 1,000 by the end of the year.
Early last month, the department said the first asylum seekers would move on the site during October.
The department proposes that the military tents would “in due course” be swapped out for 130 modular units.
In legal documents, SMTW, represented by PB Cunningham & Co, says it has a “keen interest in environmental protection” and was established to ensure proper planning and sustainability of St Margarets, The Ward and surrounding areas.
In 2023, it unsuccessfully brought court proceedings, along with Friends of the Irish Environment, challenging a ministerial direction for Fingal County Council to remove Dublin Airport noise mitigation measures from its development plan.
The Thornton Hall case alleges the Minister failed to carry out lawful environmental assessments of the site under EU’s Environmental Impact Assessment and Habitats directives.
SMTW claims the ministerial order refers to the Minister being satisfied an environmental impact assessment is not required for the project. However, SMTW says, no screening determination is available and the Minister “has no competence to make such a determination”.
SMTW says there is “severe pressure” on the existing wastewater treatment plants in the area and proper assessment of the development must at least confirm that these can accept the material from the site. It points to a proposed housing development next to Thornton Hall that was recently refused permission because there was no foul sewer infrastructure to service it.
It alleges that the proposal to accommodate 1,000 men on the site yields an obligation to service 150,000 litres of wastewater daily or for the sewage to be treated on site. It says neither option has been properly assessed.
Traffic and transport constraints are also cited by the group, which says the main bus service is already over capacity and cannot cater to an additional 1,000 people.
The lack of public footpaths around the site means the occupants will cause a “significant traffic hazard and a health and safety issue”, it says.
