A senior official with the Department of Justice said yesterday that no information had been withheld on security grounds in relation to a planning application for a €10 million explosives plant on the Shannon estuary.The Irish Times reports that the senior government inspector of explosives, JK Coates, was responding to a question from planning inspector Conor McGrath on the second day of the An Bord Pleanála oral hearing into a proposal by Shannon Explosives Ltd to build an explosives plant at Cahercon, Kildysart.
The hearing yesterday proceeded in the absence of third-party objectors to the plan who withdrew on the first day in relation to a procedural issue, telling the hearing that they would be going to the High Court yesterday to put a stay on the proceedings and seek a determination on the procedural issue. However, the hearing yesterday continued uninterrupted as experts advanced the case for Shannon Explosives on all aspects of the development.
