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Good day,
I am writing to you as someone who is suffering from the adverse effects of a quarry that effectively started business in the 1980s and that has never undergone any of the statutory planning processes enumerated in any of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Acts, 1963-1999 (for either quarrying, intensification of quarrying or building works) and that was registered under section 261 of the Planning and Development Act, 2000, following the submission by the quarry owner/operator of deceptive and/or misleading information in order to obtain that registration (because the government did not require such information to be verified) and, subsequently, was granted permission to operate, by An Bord Pleanála, in spite of that status and in spite of An Bord Pleanála’s own expert planning inspector describing it as unauthorised.
Both myself and my community are constantly subjected to the cancer-causing dust generated by frequent blasting, and associated quarrying activities, including the carcinogenic dust emanating from the quarry truck loads and the settled carcinogenic dust being kicked up by all the traffic in the area.
Not only is my life constantly affected by the fear of being forced to inhale the carcinogenic dust but also the daily Russian roulette of trying to share extremely narrow country roads with massive quarry tipper trucks and the worry of my home being damaged due to the vibrations – mini earthquakes – caused by the frequent blasting in the quarry, not to mention the destruction of and threat to National Monuments.
You will know that there are a considerable number of “quarries” that were registered under section 261 of the Planning and Development Act, 2000, that were either never quarries, to start with, or were quarries that started operating, like the one in Bellewstown, a very long time after the requirements of planning acts required planning procedures to be complied with. The fact that the Planning and Development Act, 2000 failed, miserably, in its attempt to regulate quarries but, rather, saw numerous illegal quarries start up, or unauthorised quarries to continue, is a disgrace, a disgrace that is adversely affecting the health and safety of young families and older people, babies and children, who have to live with the government’s infliction of this damage on a daily basis.
The time for affirmative action to address these issues is long past. This is not an issue that can be addressed by, say, creating another toothless quango, such as the EPA, to “look into it”; affirmative action must be taken, now, and the opportunity is there to include the required legislation – an effective version of section 261 Planning and Development Act, 2000 that can retrospectively investigate the types of quarries discussed – in the Planning and Development Bill currently making its way through the Oireachtas. In the alternative, an Act to solely deal with these quarries is needed.
Signed,
firstname lastname
For more details about the history of the quarry close to my home and matter of other quarries, please continue reading.
The Kilsaran Quarry in Bellewstown, Co. Meath
The email that you have just read was originated due to the extremely negative impact, on local people, of the quarry which is located in Hilltown Little, Bellewstown, Co. Meath, however, this is a widespread problem throughout the State.
The 2019 RTÉ documentary, RTÉ Investigates – “Quarries, Between A Rock And A Hard Place” revealed that RTÉ, alone, had discovered 151 – approximately 14% – of quarries are operating without planning approval. [The RTÉ Player link is to  <a href="https://www.rte.ie/player/movie/rte-investigates-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place/119077416153">https://www.rte.ie/player/movie/rte-investigates-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place/119077416153</a>]
But what of quarries that used deceptive and/or misleading information to register – because the government did not require such information to be verified – and then were granted carte blanche to operate, by An Bord Pleanála, in spite of An Bord Pleanála’s own expert planning inspector describing the development as follows:
“The proposed development relates to a site the use of which is unauthorised for the carrying on of quarry operations and which has not been regularised in accordance with the provisions of section 261A of the Planning and Development Act. The proposed development would constitute intensification of the said unauthorised use and it is considered inappropriate that the Board should consider the grant of a permission for the proposed development in such circumstances”? [My emphasis.]
I do not know how many quarries fall into that category but giving planning permission – without the statutory planning process being undertaken – to those who provided deceptive and/or misleading information to gain State approval for their actions is reprehensible.
Far-reaching, irreversible health impacts, property damage and pollution
Irreversable Health Impacts
There is something fundamentally wrong with a supposedly developed-world government permitting businesses to profit from spreading carcinogenic substances (specifically quartz/crystalline silica dust and radon gas) over populated areas – and crops and livestock – in the first place.
The stone we are told that is being quarried in Bellewstown is called greywacke. Greywacke contains quartz. When quartz is reduced to dust – that is to say when the rock is blasted and/or crushed – it generates crystalline silica dust. Crystalline silica dust is, according to the United Nations International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a Group 1 carcinogen.
An IARC Group 1 carcinogen is a very bad, potentially lethal, thing to inhale.
It is interesting to note that the photograph on the HSA’s information sheet [check link <a href="https://www.hsa.ie/eng/publications_and_forms/publications/information_sheets/crystalline-silica-dust---information-sheet.pdf">https://www.hsa.ie/eng/publications_and_forms/publications/information_sheets/crystalline-silica-dust—information-sheet.pdf</a>] (which states, “[i]nhalation of fine dust containing crystalline silica can cause lung damage (silicosis), which in severe cases can be disabling, or even fatal. Silicosis is irreversible and treatment options are limited”), actually uses a photograph of a quarry vehicle kicking up dust, something that we see clouds of on our roads every day that it is not raining.
In addition, as is clear from the EPA Radon Risk Maps [check link <a href="https://gis.epa.ie/EPAMaps/Radon?&lid=EPA:RadonRiskMapofIreland">https://gis.epa.ie/EPAMaps/Radon?&lid=EPA:RadonRiskMapofIreland</a>], the Kilsaran quarry, and the surrounding homes, are located in the highest risk category for exposure to radon gas – another IARC Group 1 carcinogen. It seems unlikely that blasting radon-bearing minerals would not cause the escape of the gas into the atmosphere or that the consequent geological disturbance would not result in the heightened probability of radon finding new means of dispersing into surrounding homes. (Regulations requiring the installation of a radon membrane only came into being in 1998, long after very many homes in the area had been built and before the unauthorised quarrying had been discovered.)
Property Damage and Pollution
The intense vibrations emanating from frequent blasting is the only realistic cause of the structural damage, mainly in the form of cracked walls, to numerous homes of homeowners whose properties are subjected to such activities.
In addition, local aquifers are clearly at risk – one very long standing aquifer having dried up already – this resulting in both water loss, due to geological upheaval, and disturbance of toxic substances such as arsenic.
The community is also subjected to intolerable and sustained levels of noise and dust – including the previously mentioned carcinogenic particles – from the quarrying activities, along with high volumes of HGV traffic – using the hopelessly unsuitable surrounding narrow country roads – which creates road safety issues, traffic noise and the further spread of the aforementioned dust.
Environmental Damage and Destruction
In what is supposed to be a peaceful and a thriving area for biodiversity, close to both the UNESCO World Heritage Site that is Brú na Bóinne and also the newly created Boyne Valley National Park at Dowth, the activity, at the Bellewstown quarry, has already seen one registered monument destroyed – ME027-035, a barrow – without permission. To the immediate west of the ever-advancing excavations are three more ancient monument, in the form of the three Ring Ditches, ME027-134001, ME027-134002 and ME027-114. The construction of a proposed new private highway across Bellewstown Hill threatens the two Ring Ditches ME027-124001 and ME027-124001 and, of course, Beamond Bridge ME027-008 (An Bord Pleanála Case reference: PL17.316333 Planning Authority Case Reference: 22750). It beggars belief that our government – our representatives – would preside over such environmental vandalism.
Due to the government being supportive of illegal quarrying, by its abject failure to properly regulate the sector and enforce what legislation there is, citizens and the environment are subjected to the assaults mentioned above. This is simply the abdication of the government’s responsibilities to care for its citizens and also manage the long-term adverse impacts on the environment.
The proposed Planning and Development Act for 2024
The government has recently tabled a new Planning and Development Bill in the Oireachtas.
Currently, in that bill, the only specific mention of quarries is in Part 2, Section 14 which fails to address the issues mentioned, above.
Historic Problem
In section 261 of the Planning and Development Act, 2000, it appeared that the then government was making an attempt to properly regulate quarries, including shutting down those without planning permission that had started up after 1st October 1964, like the Kilsaran quarry in Bellewstown. As is quite clear, this attempt has spectacularly backfired with random quarries popping up where there were none before and, as in the case of the quarry in Bellewstown, in spite of:
<ul>
<li>historic quarrying having been completely abandoned in the 1950s and the land having reverted to agricultural use until the 1980s,</li>
<li>no planning permission having been sought or granted for the change of use from agricultural to commercial use in the 1980s (plant hire and building materials depot and very small-scale quarrying, all requiring planning permission),</li>
<li>no planning permission ever having been sought or granted for any of the buildings and other structures erected on the site,</li>
<li>no planning permission having been sought or granted for numerous intensifications of the illegal quarrying on the site,</li>
<li>no planning permission having been sought or granted for expansion of intensive quarrying activities into new lands purchased in 2002 (and, incidentally, included in the misleading information submitted to obtain registration as having been actively continuously quarried before, on and after 1st October 1964)</li>
<li>the government retrospectively authorising illegal quarrying to the benefit of the quarry owners and to the massive detriment of local residents and the wider environment.</li>
</ul>
As is clear, section 261 of the Planning and Development Act, 2000 has proved to be disastrous for many local communities. Not only has it somehow facilitated quarry owners to get away with using deceptive and/or misleading information to continue illegal quarrying, it has also, perversely, actually enabled operators to get away with registering lands as historic quarries – where there have never been quarries – and enabling these people to start quarrying, without the required planning permission, and with the acquiescence of the State.
The proper location for quarries is in remote, unpopulated areas where the massive adverse health and environmental effects are not inflicted on people living nearby. Given the current concerns over the environment and climate change, it is also questionable whether it is appropriate for quarry owners to blast the countryside apart in order to load it onto trucks and export it overseas.
I urge you to work with government to introduce an amendment, to the Planning and Development Bill, or sponsor a new act to address these issues, which will cause all such quarries described above to be shut down, forthwith.
For a State to allow quarry owners to profit from illegal and damaging activities, to the detriment of the health and welfare of ordinary citizens, and the environment, is a disgrace.

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