A public inquiry into an application for a gold mine in Co Tyrone has been suspended partially because the people of Donegal were not consulted on it.
The inquiry into the application was into its third day at the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh today when the decision was taken.
American owned mining company Dalradian is seeking planning permission for a large underground mine 19km from Omagh in the heart of the Sperrin Mountains.
The suspension, which is set to last until at least March 26th next, came after the department of infrastructure at Stormont admitted that it had breached its own legal obligations for dealing with cross-border issues.
Campaigners opposed to the plan claim it would have devastating environmental consequences, an assertion the company strongly rejects.
Legal teams for the company, a number of local councils, Stormont departments and a range of groups opposed to the mine plan arrived at the inquiry today.
The hearing today dealt with “transboundary” issues and the possible impact the goldmine could have on cross-border waterways, the River Finn which runs along the borders of Tyrone and Donegal, and the River Foyle in Derry.
Environmental campaigners from Donegal told the inquiry they had not been given sufficient information or time to engage in a consultation process.
“If I go to a shop to buy a cake I don’t buy it in slices,” Donegal resident Gerard Moyne of Defending Environmental Wealth told RTE.
“The issue has to be looked at holistically, in its totality.”
He was accompanied at the inquiry by well-known local Letterkenny-based environmental campaigner Sean Gallagher.
The inquiry was told that Stormont’s department for infrastructure accepted that it had failed to notify the Irish Government about the planning application and inquiry, and to give Donegal County Council sufficient notice and information to conduct an adequate public consultation.
The department previously told the inquiry that Donegal County Council was to blame for the lack of proper consultation because of “inadequate internal procedures.”
“The view of the department is that it should formally notify and consult the Dublin Government and re-consult Donegal County Council,” said barrister David Elvin for Stormont’s Department for Infrastructure.
Announcing the decision to suspend the inquiry chairperson of the Planning Appeals Commission Jacqueline McParland said it was “deeply regrettable” that the panel had been put in this position by the inaction of Stormont departments, and their failure to follow their own legislative procedures.
The inquiry was suspended until at least 26 March when a review hearing will be held if the commission has sufficient information on transboundary issues.
