Putting the ‘public’ into Public Local Inquiry
Notes from the first three days of the Inquiry in January 2025 now available to view.
What’s happening?
The Planning Appeals Commission and Water Appeals Commission (the Commission) have been asked to conduct a Public Local Inquiry into a set of applications relating to the development of a gold mine in the Sperrins.
You may have seen in the news recently that the Inquiry has been suspended.
When the Inquiry is reconvened, it will be held at the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh. It is likely to be heard for around 21 days over the course of two to three months.
We have been concerned for some time about the public accessibility of the Inquiry and in particular the Commission’s decision not to livestream the Inquiry hearings, to prohibit all recordings of the hearings and not to produce and/or keep a transcript of the hearings.
This means that unless you attend the hearings, you will not be able to access a first-hand account of events.
- If you have a job which requires you to work between 9am and 5pm on weekdays, you will need to take leave to attend.
- If you have caring responsibilities, you will need to find people to cover those for you in order to attend.
Doing this once or twice may be manageable, but doing it 21 times within two-three months will be almost impossible for most people.
The potential goldmine affects not only the communities in the immediate vicinity of the mine itself; it has much wider impacts across Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland. The consequence of the Commission’s decision is that those who are interested in the hearings must attend in person, no matter where they are travelling from or how difficult that might be.
Despite requests from local communities, environmental NGOs like Friends of the Earth, PILS, the Committee on the Administration of Justice and even the Department for Infrastructure, the Commission is refusing to budge.
What is PILS doing?
We are pleased to have supported Harte Coyle Collins in sending their trainee solicitor, Cathal Mullan to attend the first three days of the Inquiry in January 2025.
Cathal took a detailed note of proceedings over these three days and we are making those available on our website. You can download the notes here:
| Day One (13 January 2025) | Day Two (14 January 2025) | Day Three (15 January 2025) |
Disclaimer: These are not word-for-word transcripts of the proceedings. Errors in transcription may be present.
This note of the proceedings before the conjoined public inquiries into the Curraghinalt Project is for general information purposes and does not and is not intended to constitute legal or other professional advice.
However, we hope that the notes will be useful for anyone who wishes to follow the Inquiry.
We are grateful to Harte Coyle Collins for agreeing to the wider publication of these notes in the public interest.
What’s next?
The Commission is due to hold a mid-inquiry meeting on 26 March 2025, subject to their confirmation. This meeting will be used to determine how and when the Inquiry hearings will be reconvened.
We hope that the Commission will reconsider its position on the transmission of the hearings and will – at a minimum – provide live streaming of the hearings and either provide transcripts of the hearings or allow attendees to make recordings.
What can I do?
You can write to the Commission and ask it to change its procedures. It has the power to do so.
This is a public inquiry and it should be accessible to the public. There is a dedicated email address for the Inquiry: dalradian.cpi[at]pacni.gov.uk
The Commission can also be contacted by phone and email here.