Row over priest"s College Proteins Mass remarks

A letter written by a businessman to the Bishop of Meath, complaining about the comments of a priest at a recent Mass in Meath Hill parish, has angered the local community, according to the North East Against Incineration group (NEIA). There has been a furious reaction in the Nobber and Meath Hill areas to a letter written to Bishop Michael Smith by John Gilroy of College Proteins complaining of remarks made at Mass in Meath Hill at the end of June. In his letter, Mr Gilroy expressed dismay at the comments of the visiting priest about the proposal by College Proteins to build a meat and bonemeal incinerator in Nobber. He objected to the priest telling mass goers to get their objections in against the incinerator before the end of the month. Mr Gilroy suggested that the Bishop instruct the priest to withdraw his comments at the following week"s Mass in Meath Hill. NEAI spokesman, Christy O"Reilly said there was a lot of anger and astonishment locally at Mr Gilroy"s letter. 'People here believe the priest was quite entitled to make the remarks and if somebody has an issue with that they could have contacted him directly, rather than writing to the bishop,' said Mr O"Reilly. A spokesperson for John Gilroy of College Proteins said he had written to Bishop Smith because of the wholly inaccurate comments made by the priest, and because the particular priest had declined to meet him (Mr Gilroy) to discuss the proposed development last December. He said Mr Gilroy received a very satisfactory response from Bishop Smith. A spokesperson for the Bishop of Meath said that the comments were not made as part of a sermon, but were merely personal remarks associated with 'parish notes". He said the diocese has no official line on the incinerator. The priests remarks were not withdrawn at the following week"s mass. In his letter to the Bishop, Mr Gilroy said he had received a number of complaints from his staff about the priest"s remarks. He pointed out that College Proteins had been in Nobber since 1989 and was one of Ireland"s leading processors of animal by-products. They employed 100 people over two sites and the proposed development would create a further 18 positions, with 100 construction jobs being created during building. He objected to the priest"s comments urging parishioners to get their objections in if they wanted to 'breathe the air" in Meath Hill. Mr Gilroy said that their Environmental Impact Assessment stated categorically that the development would not impact on the local environment or the air quality in the area and the technology they intended to use had been in existence in the UK and Europe for many years without any adverse impact on the environment.