Tara plan objectors may win more time

A meeting of Meath County Council scheduled for 12th October to discuss a landscape conservation plan for the Tara-Skryne area may be postponed amid continuing controversy surrounding the contentious proposal. A packed and highly charged meeting between residents of the area and county councillors this week heard demands for the holding of a referendum of the community in the designated area. A previous information meeting hosted by the county council in the Ardboyne Hotel in Navan last Monday week was abandoned amid chaotic scenes which included slow hand-clapping and heated contributions from the floor. The council said it had never been intended to hold a public meeting but the "information meeting" had been held to enable residents to have one-to-one discussions about the conservation plan with six planning department officials. Many attendees had expected a forum at which they would put questions in public to the officials. On Monday of this week, up to 200 people attended a public meeting on the issue chaired by Meath East FG TD Shane McEntee and attended by at least eight councillors, along with TDs Mary Wallace and Thomas Byrne. Guest speaker Eddie Downey, deputy president of the IFA, recounted his experiences in dealing with a similar conservation plan being processed in the Boyne Valley area close to Newgrange. Deputy McEntee said that local people felt very strongly about the effect the proposal would have on rural communities. "Serious planning issues are already arising in the area and they feel that to restrict genuine local people from planning permission would have a disastrous effect on their communities, schools, football clubs and families," he said. At a meeting between council officials and councillors, also held last Monday, the majority of councillors expressed a view that the meeting on 12th October should be postponed to allow for additional time to consider the matter. A council spokesperson said: "The postponement of the meeting scheduled for the 12th October will be discussed by the corporate policy group who will make a recommendation to the full council at its meeting on 4th October."