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Ireland's political and cultural magazine
June 2021 71
it not to proceed unless there is no reasonable
doubt the proposed road would not aect Tully
Bog Special Area of Conservation, a lowland
raised bog, north of Omagh.
The Commissioner took issue with some of the
language the Department used. The Department
said there would be a “large adverse eect” on
Castletown House, a listed building on the
outskirts of Strabane. He pointed out complete
demolition was in fact planned.
The Department has rejected the
recommendation to remove the 5.5 mile stretch
between Ballygawley in Co Tyrone and the
Border. At present there are no plans to dual the
N2 from north of Monaghan to connect with the
A5.
The project has strong political support. The
Programme for Government between the Green
Party and Fianna Fáil commits the Government,
perhaps remarkably, to “Work with the Northern
Ireland Executive to deliver key cross-border
infrastructure initiatives, including the A5...”.
The Government has promised €500million for
the A5 and other projects.
West Tyrone SDLP Assembly member Daniel
McCrossan has been strident. He wrote on his
Facebook page on March 16:“I am calling on the
public to join me in challenging the Alternative/
Anti A5 Alliance and their short-sighted, self-
interested and reckless campaign.
Maybe it’s time we name and shame those
involved so the people of this area know who is
holding back this vital, necessary and life-
saving investment”.
The ANTI A5 Alliance have got away with this
messing for long enough. I’m calling on the
public to take a stand”.
A reconvened public inquiry is to begin next
year. And Irish Greens remain mute.
to “update and finalise the draft Flood
Risk Assessment” before presenting
further plans. During last year’s Public
Inquiry, objectors had pointed out the
road would run on an embankment
through a flood plain at Strabane. Construction
work would compact the soil there, making it
less able to absorb rainwater. Witnesses
presented evidence that the Strabane area has
suered several serious floods in recent years.
As well as generating greenhouse gases,
emissions from trac have a detrimental impact
on air quality. The Commissioner said this was
not properly considered. He accused the
Department of using “sophisticated analytical
techniques to construct a substantial numerical
edifice on a relatively weak base of increasingly
old site-specific data”.
The dual carriageway is proposed to run
through or near a number of Special Areas of
Conservation, both rivers and bogs. The
Commissioner instructed the Department to
produce a separate Environmental Assessment
for each Special Protection Area. He instructed
T
here is no justified case for the North’s
largest-ever proposed road project,
according to the report of a public
inquiry. The A5 dual carriageway was
to run for 51 miles from Newbuildings,
south of Derry, to the Tyrone-Monaghan Border
at Aughnacloy.
So far 83.4million (€95.9million) has been
spent on the project. Not a single sod has been
turned.
The Planning Commissioner who reported
from the public inquiry was scathing of the
Northern Ireland Department for Infrastructure’s
plans. He found they fell short on 30 grounds.
The most important grounds for rejecting the
plan were a failure to factor in the impact on
climate change, examine flood risk, or consider
alternatives.
The Commissioner believed climate change
was not properly considered: “The Department,
should it decide to proceed with the scheme,
must explain how it has taken account of the
UK’s climate change commitments, including
those set out in the Paris Agreement....There is
no description in the updated (Environmental
Statement) of measures to avoid, reduce or
remedy the impact of the scheme on climate.
The increased greenhouse gas emissions can
only be regarded as a large adverse eect on the
environment”.
The proposed road has a cross-Border
dimension, being designed to connect Derry and
Donegal with Dublin. Thus it would lead to
increased emissions in the Republic. However,
the Environmental Statement also failed to take
these into account. As an aside this may be a
precursor of systemic failures to maintain EU
environmental standards post-Brexit. In this
case it was picked up by a public inquiry but it
won’t always be.
The Commissioner also found the plan failed to
consider the alternatives (another EU EIS
requirement) of bypasses around several towns,
and a ‘2+1’ design. That is a three-lane road,
consisting of two lanes in one direction and one
lane in the other, alternating every few kilometres.
The main objectors, the Alternative A5 Alliance,
had proposed this at the public inquiry.
The Commissioner instructed the Department
The Republic’s Programme for Government
commits the Green-hued coalition, perhaps
remarkably, to ‘work with the NI Executive to
deliver key cross-border infrastructure initiatives,
including the A5’ and has promised €500million.
Cross-border dual-carriageway plan rubbished
No justification
for under-
assessed road,
says NI inquiry,
while Irish Greens
remain mute
By Anton McCabe
Will be similr but wider nd elsewhere
ENVIRONMENT
