The decision not to allow An Taisce to appeal the decision by An Bord Pleanála granting planning permission for a new cheese plant at Belview is one win in a long battle for Glanbia Ireland and its 4,500 farmer suppliers.

An Taisce was seeking permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal, after the High Court ruled that the development could go ahead.

The central tenet of An Taisce’s argument is that the decision to grant planning permission did not take into account the fact that the new plant could lead to an increase in emissions from the dairy herd, which An Taisce is opposed to.

The legal precedent for this relates to the case An Taisce successfully took against the Edenderry power plant.

The plant is next to the bog and there was a train line to transport the peat to the power station

In his ruling last week, the judge said the factors concerning the power plant are “simply not relevant” to the cheese factory case.

In the power plant case, An Taisce argued that the emissions from the peat harvested to power the plant should be factored in.

The plant is next to the bog and there was a train line to transport the peat to the power station.

Glanbia milk intake at Ballyraggett.

“Here, the milk production for the factory is to be carried out on around 4,500 unidentified farms located across the east of Ireland, which may vary from year-to-year,” Mr Justice Humphreys stated in his ruling on the appeal.

So what next? The Irish Farmers Journal understands that An Taisce has the option to appeal this latest decision to not grant leave to appeal.

If it decides to go down this route, the appeal to appeal will be heard by the Supreme Court.

It then has 21 days from the date the latest judgement is published to lodge this appeal. It is likely any decision on whether or not An Taisce can appeal would be made in late autumn/early winter.

If successful, the project would be held up until after the case is played out in the Supreme Court, probably sometime in the latter half of 2022.

If An Taisce does decide to appeal to the Supreme Court and is refused or if it decides not to appeal, it is effectively the end of the matter.

We are committed to bringing this project to fruition with our partners, Royal A-ware

The case can only be brought to the European courts if requested by the Supreme Court and this would only happen in very rare occasions where EU law is to be interpreted.

Commenting on the judgement, Glanbia Ireland CEO Jim Bergin said: “We are committed to bringing this project to fruition with our partners, Royal A-ware.

“This project, which is line with Government policy, is critical to our market diversification post-Brexit, will support rural Ireland’s post-COVID-19 recovery and is of huge importance to the 4,500 farm families supplying milk to Glanbia Ireland.”

Reserve pool

The hold-up in getting the new cheese plant built has meant that Glanbia Ireland has insufficient processing capacity to process milk during the peak production months from 2022 onwards.

Extra milk produced over and above allocated volumes will be subject to a lower milk price or penalties.

Farmers unhappy with their allocated volumes were able to appeal to a new reserve fund established in the wake of the restrictions being announced.

It is expected that those who appealed will be informed of their new allocations sometime in late August.

Some farmers are receiving letters this week asking them to clarify some of the information supplied in their application to the reserve fund.