Blog Grid – Four Columns

  Two years ago, Save Our Skibbereen (SOS) started fundraising for their campaign to overturn the planning permission for a Thermoplastic Production Facility in Skibbereen. Having won their case in the High Court, they now have started to redistribute their … Read More

SOS 2020 Fund – Initial allocation €20,000 The Directors of Save our Skibbereen CLG invite applications from Community Organisations seeking financial assistance for worthy projects in Skibbereen and its environs. All projects should demonstrate their value to the community or … Read More

An Bord Pleanála sent notification on September 16th 2019 to our Chairperson Brendan McCarthy that RTP Company T/A Daly Products Ltd. have withdrawn their application for the plastic factory and that there is no ‘live’ planning application now. This case is now … Read More

Save our Skibbereen : Press Release – 29th July 2019   In the High Court on 30th July 2019, An Bord Pleanala consented to the Court granting an Order of Certiorari quashing the decision of the Bord dated 29th November 2018 … Read More

Early in July 2019 , we received Greta Thunberg’s message of support to the ‘Save Our Skibbereen’ and ‘Bantry Bay – Protect our Native Kelp Forest’ campaigns. http://www.bantrybaykelpforest.com/ The video came from Saoi O’Connor – who has been leading the School … Read More

It has been a little while since we sent out an update; and the SOS stand at the Saturday Market in Skibbereen is getting visitors inquiring into “what is happening now?” The answer is ‘Not A Lot”. As you know … Read More

Save Our Skibbereen is currently seeking a Judicial Review of the planning permission granted to RTP Company for their 5000M² Thermoplastic Factory at Poundlick, Skibbereen. This development cannot go ahead while this legal process is ongoing. An Bord Pleanála’s Inspector … Read More

Enjoy a selection of films where SOS campaigners and supporters talk about the harm to the environment and public health that the proposed Plastic Factory will bring to Skibbereen and West Cork. See also an exclusive excerpt from the acclaimed … Read More

Our running total of donations has been updated to include €2000 raised in Schull at the launch of the Save Our Skibbereen CD – we have raised €34,904 as of today. Our thanks to everyone involved in achieving this remarkable … Read More

Local musicians in West Cork have come together to voice their concern and support the SOS campaign to stop the proposed plastics factory in Skibbereen. The musicians involved are Camilla Grieshel, Bean Dolan, Lauren Guillery, Shanti, Miranda McCarthy, Simon Blewhouse, Anna … Read More

The SOS ex-parte application against An Bord Pleanala was being made on Monday 21st January within the eight week period of the decision of the board to uphold the Cork County Council Decision to Grant RTP Permission for the awful … Read More

Speaker : Claudia Kinmonth MRIA Date & Time : 6.30pm,  Saturday 26th January 2019 Venue : The West Cork Hotel, Skibbereen, Co. Cork Admission : €10 – all proceeds to ‘Save Our Skibbereen’   This richly illustrated talk explores how rural people … Read More

In a statement to PRW, a sister publication of Plastics News, Danny Miles, RTP vice president and managing director, Europe, said: “We welcomed the decision of Cork County Council to grant planning permission for our project in Skibbereen, which gave due consideration … Read More

Introduction to SOS Fundraising Pack   Help our Campaign to succeed through doing your bit to raise crucial funds for legal action and representation when and if it becomes necessary. The SOS campaign relies completely on volunteers and public support … Read More

THE proposed plastics factory for Skibbereen looks set to be an election issue in the area in next year’s local elections. And a local TD has called on the factory’s owners to hold a public meeting in a bid to … Read More

The following are statements or otherwise, in December 2018, from all West Cork elected representatives regarding our campaign and the proposed RTP Company Plastic Factory at Poundlick, Baltimore Road, Skibbereen, Co. Cork. Requests for statements and/or invitations to our Public … Read More

RTP Co. is being challenged in its attempt to build a compounding plant in Ireland. Winona, Minn.-based RTP, a major global compounder, has submitted plans to build a plant in Skibbereen, a town of about 3,000 less than 10 miles … Read More

Save Our Skibbereen (SoS), a campaign group set up to oppose the construction of a plastic compounding factory on the outskirts of the west Cork town, is seeking financial support for a judicial review against the project. The campaigners want … Read More

There is a groundswell of opposition to the factory plan in Skibbereen, writes Noel Baker. Children in a classroom in Union Hall Primary School, where Brendan McCarthy is principal, recently debated the whys and wherefores of plastics and whether or not … Read More

Hundreds of locals packed the ballroom at the West Cork Hotel on Thursday night in response to last week’s An Bord Pleanala decision to give the Skibbereen plastic factory the go ahead. It was announced at the event that the committee … Read More

DEVASTATED for Skibbereen and for all of West Cork – that’s the reaction from  the Save Our Skibbereen (SOS) group which campaigned ferociously against the plastic factory going ahead. But Brendan McCarthy, one of the founding members of the group … Read More

Plans to build a new plastics factory in Skibbereen in Cork is facing fierce opposed from local campaigners. The Save Our Skibbereen campaign is opposing the move, despite An Bord Pleanála approving the plans by Daly Products yesterday. Residents who … Read More

An Bord Pleanála has ruled against the recommendation of its own inspector and upheld a decision by Cork County Council to grant planning permission for a plastics factory in Skibbereen. Locals, who appealed the council’s planning permission for a 4,800 square … Read More

Plans to build a new plastics factory in Skibbereen in Cork is facing fierce opposed from local campaigners. The Save Our Skibbereen campaign is opposing the move, despite An Bord Pleanála approving the plans by Daly Products yesterday. Residents who … Read More

An Bord Pleanala has approved planning permission for a plastics factory in West Cork. Residents who appealed a Cork County Council decision to grant planning for a 4,800 sq/km thermoplastics facility in Skibbereen today received confirmation from An Bord Pleanala … Read More

An Bord Pleanala have ruled in favour of granting permission to the RTP Thermoplastic Compunds Facility at Poundlick, Skibbereen. They have gone against the advice of their own inspectors who recommended that permission not be granted. SOS are fully prepared … Read More

At 11.50pm on Saturday 27th, a fire broke out at the RTP Company Plastic Factory in Beaune, France. Thankfully there were no casualties reported. The fire was difficult to fight and required the use of specialist foam cannons to put … Read More

The following petition has been started by Alicia Ní Ghráinne of the West Cork Green Business Alliance. Alicia is a film-maker who lives in Baltimore, West Cork and is seeking to draw on the support of the Irish community in the … Read More

1. What is Marine Spatial Planning? Marine spatial planning is a process that brings together multiple users of the ocean to make informed and coordinated decisions about how to use marine resources sustain-ably. It is a process by which the … Read More

Here are some of our favourite photos that show off the environment we are seeking to protect. If you read our other articles, you will see how the emissions and waste water from the proposed Thermoplastic Compounds Facility will have … Read More

This document sets out the most frequently asked questions from the press, politicians and members of the public that campaign group members may regularly be called on to answer. The aim is to provide everyone involved with a regularly updated … Read More

  Overview   RTP Company, whose headquarters is in Winona, Minnesota has applied for planning permission to build a Polymer Compounding Facility, under the name of a newly formed subsidiary, Daly Products, on the Baltimore Road Skibbereen. The factory they … Read More

A PUBLIC meeting to discuss a planning application to build a plastics factory in Skibbereen is due to take place at 7.30pm on Thursday, October 4th at the West Cork Hotel. Brendan McCarthy, chairperson of Save Our Skibbereen (SOS) said … Read More

In December 2015, the first reports of moves to rezone the Greenbelt site at Poundlick, Skibbereen, were reported in the media. Members of the county council’s planning policy committee were told by senior local authority officials that they have been … Read More

Lorraine Shaab, a frequent visitor to our pages at ‘Save Our Skibbereen’ wrote to us recently about the scourge of Plastic Nurdles on their coastline at Wellington, New Zealand. In 2014, the issue of nurdles at Evans Bay beach, Wellington, … Read More

We’re looking forward to a great day out at Inish Beg Estate on Sunday, September 2nd, from 2pm – 5pm. We are immensely grateful to everyone at Inish Beg and especially Paul and Georgie Keane for their support and generosity … Read More

A CANADIAN environmentalist is visiting Skibbereen to warn people of the dangers presented by a plastic component known as nurdles. After researching nurdles, Fiona Vincent – who is a member of SOS, Save Our Skibbereen, an organisation that is opposing … Read More

Fresh air and clean water in Skibbereen, West Cork versus Winona, Minnesota where the quality of air consistently falls below national standards and water quality is impaired.   RTP Company, the parent company of Daly Products who hope to build … Read More

A heated meeting of residents in Skibbereen on July 19 reflected their anxieties about the hazards they fear if a plastics factory manufacturing ‘nurdles’ — polymer pellets — is built in the town, writes Damien Enright. Last year, despite impassioned objections … Read More

Residents of Skibbereen fear the industrial facility would foul their air and water while adding to ocean plastic pollution. The plant is part of a global plastic factory-building boom driven by cheap natural gas. A wave of governments has moved to … Read More

(This article is extracted from the EU funded Sea Change Project. Links below. Illustration by Marker Wizards Ltd.) Many of our waste products end up in the sea. This includes visible litter as well as invisible waste such as chemicals … Read More

When I first joined the Save Our Skibbereen Campaign I rang Polly Higgins Award Winning Author barrister and Ecocide Law Expert. She warned me , “Don’t even get into this if you aren’t prepared to be in it for the … Read More

I recently spent a day watching magnificent Finn Whales off the coast of West Cork with Colin Barnes, ‘Cork Whale Watch’. What a privilege it was to be in the company of these giants, being the second largest animal on … Read More

RTP have opened a new Plastic Factory in Wroclaw, Poland. From their own website, it was announced as follows in February 2018 : “The 8,000 square metre facility, located at Prologis Park V in Wroclaw, has a wide dock area … Read More

Presentation on the dangers of Nurdles & Pops by Fiona Hayes Taken from SOS Public Meeting, 12th July, at The West Cork Hotel, Skibbereen Video Version :         Audio Version via Soundcloud :

What is so interesting about this head line is that it comes from an article in the Irish Times dated Thursday April 7th 2005. A disturbing account of the health hazards of living in the close vicinity of a Plastics … Read More

I’ve been fishing debris out of the river for several years.  I began picking up floating trash to make the scenery more appealing to myself and other patrons of Speed River Paddling, a local Guelph kayak/canoe rental company.  They used … Read More

David Puttnam “As someone who has worked for over twenty years on the development of strategic and environmentally sustainable European solutions to economic and employment problems, the proposal for a plastics factory in Skibbereen flies in the face of all … Read More

We believe this factory is ill advised, badly planned, and has not been subjected to the necessary and rigorous tests of suitability that Skibbereen and West Cork deserve. We believe it will impact terribly on our air, our water, our … Read More

200 People Attend Public Meeting As Concern Mounts Over Planned Plastic Factory In Skibbereen

Cadmium. How much is too much? Any. Zero cadmium is good for you. Any more than that is bad for you. Really bad. What is Cadmium?  Cadmium is a soft, malleable, ductile, bluish-white divalent metal. It is similar in many respects to zinc but … Read More

The application site is situated towards the south-west of Skibberreen. The town centre area of Skibbereen is some 1.3km away from the site. It is a greenfield site and the surrounding area is mostly rural / agricultural in nature. As … Read More

Residents In Skibbereen Oppose Plans For Plastic Factory   http://www.redfm.ie/news/cork/residents-in-skibbereen-oppose-plans-for-plastic-factory/

Jeremy Irons and David Puttnam add voices to campaign against proposed plant that locals say clashes with area’s ‘clean living’ ethos. Residents in Skibbereen, Co Cork are opposing plans for a thermoplastic factory they claim will clash with the “clean … Read More

The above image shows the point of outflow from the waste water treatment plant into the Ilen When an industry (as opposed to residential) discharges to the waste water treatment plant, there are often requirements to licence directly by the … Read More

What is Skibbereen and how is it represented on the internet? What kind of place do people expect to find when they visit Skibbereen? These are just some examples from heavily marketed websites. If you had never visited Skibbereen, these … Read More

The pre production polymer pellets or Nurdles get spilled in production, in road transport and in shipping. Each bulk truck can carry about 2 billion nurdles per load. This is such a big problem that the industry itself has an … Read More

We would like to highlight the proposals for Skibbereen that were outlined in the Cork County Development Plan 2014 – 2022. This plan was prepared in accordance with the steps set out in the Planning and Development Acts. It was adopted … Read More

Why is plastic such a big issue now? Why are businesses making a big deal out of reducing their use of plastic? Why is it in the news? Are people aware that plastic is a problem? Are tourists aware that … Read More

The mystery of the 50 jobs! There have been repeated references in the press to 50 jobs… …but even in the planning application that is not stated. The highest figure in the application is 20-40 jobs and this is determined … Read More

Proposed construction schedule = 12 months (projected) Excavation of site = Removal of 40,000m³ /60,000 tonnes of soil and stone = 1,500 truckloads @ 40 tonne per truck which is = 3,000 return trips through Skibbereen = 50 truck loads … Read More

Why was there no Traffic Impact Assessment (T.I.A.) carried out or called for? If the site goes above 5,000 square metres it is required. This factory plan is for 4,800 so it is under the threshold, but Dept. of Transport … Read More

The greatest concerns for Emergency Responders, in particular Firefighters is the burning of plastics. Plastic fire flames spread at 2 feet per second which is 10 times faster than dry wood. Firefighters have to wear self contained breathing apparatus (S.C.B.A.s) … Read More

The planning application for the Daly Product Polymer Compounding Factory has had no report compiled on it except those that were commissioned on behalf of RTP/Daly Products as part of their submission. No independent study was commissioned on the impact … Read More

The EPA in Ireland in their studies of plastic in the fresh water environment showed how the water slows down as it reaches the lower courses and so many of the plastic nurdles are deposited here, as shown above. These … Read More

SIR – I refer to your article in the paper dated April 21st, headlined ‘Skibb Plastics firm’s parent to open new Polish facility.’   http://www.southernstar.ie/news/roundup/articles/2018/05/06/4155628-letter-residents-opposed-to-plastics-factory/

SIR – I refer to an article in last week’s issue regarding the proposed application by ‘Daly Products Ltd’ t/a RTP Co, for a plastics factory on the Baltimore Road, which is currently with An Bord Pleanála due to the … Read More

“Simon Lockwood and his two children live in a blue-painted house in one of the greenest, most secluded parts of Poundlick, Skibbereen… Skibbereen residents fearful of plastic factory impact on everyday life

LORD David Puttnam has said that more questions need to be asked about Cork County Council’s decision to grant planning permission for a new plastics factory in Skibbereen.   http://www.southernstar.ie/news/business/articles/2018/02/23/4152388-puttnam-questions-need-to-be-asked-about-plastics-factory/

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Phasellus porta, nibh quis viverra posuere, lectus dui consectetur purus, in placerat nisi orci eget dui. Fusce cursus sapien urna, at sollicitudin sapien sagittis non. Aenean suscipit scelerisque nibh at gravida. Vivamus pretium urna eu quam eleifend, eu fringilla purus … Read More

Phasellus porta, nibh quis viverra posuere, lectus dui consectetur purus, in placerat nisi orci eget dui. Fusce cursus sapien urna, at sollicitudin sapien sagittis non. Aenean suscipit scelerisque nibh at gravida. Vivamus pretium urna eu quam eleifend, eu fringilla purus … Read More

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