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 from Ireland's southern coast. The 16,000-square-foot plant would create as many as 40 new jobs.
The plant is opposed by Save Our Skibbereen, a protest group that's concerned about the environmental impact of the plant.
“I think more and more people are seeing that this is not what we want in West Cork,” said Brendan McCarthy, former mayor of the Skibbereen Town Council, who leads the protest group. He spoke in a Dec. 3 radio interview with Cork Today.
Save our Skibbereen has attracted local and international attention. More than 6,000 area residents have signed a petition opposing the RTP plant. Award-winning actor Jeremy Irons, who owns a historic castle in the area, also has publicly opposed the project.
“My God, we need jobs in Skibbereen, but let us not desecrate this jewel of an area by allowing [a] polluting manufacture to poison our environment,” Irons wrote. “Let us question the process of democratic planning before we force the children and adults of Skibbereen to live their lives beneath a toxic plume, while outsiders manufacture a product which much of the world is trying to cut down on.”
The plant won initial approval from the Cork County Council in December 2017, but Save Our Skibbereen appealed that decision to An Bord Pleanala, a national building commission. Against the recommendation of its own inspector, that board rejected the appeal and approved the project on Dec. 3. Now the protest group wants to appeal to Ireland's High Court.