Anti-mining protest escalates

The protest campaign against the granting of a prospecting licence to a Co. Louth mining company to operate in Inishowen is set to escalate this week. Dundalk-based Grosvenor Exploration and Mining Services (Ireland) is to be granted a licence by the Government to prospect for diamonds, gem minerals and gold from Newtowncunningham to Malin Head. The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources is granting the licence under Section 7 of the Minerals Development Act 1940. A notice in a South Donegal newspaper at the end of last month advised the public they had 21 days to object. A protest campaign over the internet is already under way and a meeting has being held at 8.30pm in Carrowmenagh Community Centre this Friday. Members of Carndonagh Community and Rural Development (CCRD) expressed their concerns about the project at a meeting held last week. Raymond Doherty, of CCRD, urged people to attend Friday night’s meeting. He said: “People in Inishowen need to wake up and ask the question – ‘do we want tourism or do we want minng?’ If there is going to mining there will be no tourism.” He added: “Very little seems to be known about what this company has planned and we need to act quickly to stop this from going ahead. “The people of Inishowen have not been made sufficiently aware of the proposed project in line with proper rules and regulations and, therefore, have not been afforded proper avenues of discussion and/or the opportunity to protest against plans for our area.” A spokesperson for the organisers of Friday night’s meeting said a guest speaker would in attendance “to explain what the consequences might be” for the peninsula and to answer questions on “this important matter.” The spokesperson added: “It would be in everyone’s interest to attend this meeting.”