The High Court has refused Peter Sweetman’s application for judicial review of an Environmental Protection Agency licence for an intensive poultry farm in County Limerick. The licence, granted to Michael Noel O’Connor on 6 February 2019, permits the rearing of 74,000 broiler chickens at an installation in Rathcahill West, Templeglantine, Newcastle West.
Mr Sweetman argued that the EPA should also have assessed and regulated what happened to poultry litter and wash water produced by the farm, including possible land spreading beyond the installation. He said the agency could not assess environmental risks without knowing where the material would go, and challenged its reliance on controls under the Nitrates Regulations in its consideration of effects on protected European sites.
The EPA said the licence application concerned poultry rearing at the installation, not land spreading on third-party lands. It argued that the licence did not require an appropriate assessment of those later uses, which are subject to other regulatory regimes.
Justice Conleth Bradley found that the EPA had correctly defined the scope of its powers under the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992. The scheduled activity before it was the rearing of poultry within the installation boundary. The licence addressed the production and handling of litter and wash water at the site, but did not authorise or regulate their future use or disposal on other lands.
The judge rejected the challenge to the agency’s treatment of land spreading at the appropriate-assessment screening stage. Because the agency was not required to assess the off-site use as part of this licence decision, it was unnecessary to decide the EPA’s alternative argument about whether compliance with the Nitrates Regulations could be considered at screening. The court also noted that the challenge to the assessment of the licensed poultry-rearing activity itself was no longer being pursued.
The court refused the reliefs sought. It listed the matter for 6 February 2024 to make a final order and deal with any ancillary matters. The proceedings against the State parties had been discontinued, and Mr O’Connor did not participate.