It was a trip across Munster over Christmas 2022 that triggered Peter Sweetman’s campaign on planning permission applications by farmers.

“I was coming from Lismore to Mallow and the roads were frozen and I saw slurry being spread on the banks of the Blackwater,” he tells the Irish Farmers Journal. “That incensed me.”

Environmentalist Sweetman, described by many as a “serial objector”, first objected to a piggery beside his family’s land in Co Kildare around 30 years ago.

He went on to wage a major campaign against the issuing of forestry felling licences, accounting for 351 appeals or more than half of all forestry licence appeals between 2018 and 2022.

The 82-year-old has also taken more than a dozen judicial reviews, leading TD Barry Cowen to describe him in the Dáil as a “super judicial reviewer”.

Sweetman reported the slurry spreading incident at Christmas 2022 to the Department of Agriculture, but says nothing was done about it.

Since then, he has been ramping up his focus on farm planning applications.

Last October, the Irish Farmers Journal reported that he had appealed 24 farm-related planning decisions to An Bord Pleanála in the previous 13 months.

In 2024 to date, he has lodged a further 25 appeals on farm developments in 13 counties to An Bord Pleanála.

The appeals are in his own name, or on behalf of Wild Ireland Defence Ltd, a west Cork-registered company formed in 2019.

Sweetman, with an address in Mayo, is one of three directors, listed alongside fellow activists, Bantry-based Dolf D Hondt and Dun Laoghaire-based Elizabeth Davidson.

The developments, outlined in Table 1, range from retention of cattle sheds, to new developments of milking parlours, calf sheds, silage slabs and slurry tanks.

However, An Bord Pleanála appeals are the second phase of Sweetman’s actions.

The first is to make submissions on every farming-related development within proximity to a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) or Special Protection Areas (SPAs).

This issue was raised at a recent IFA South Tipperary meeting, where chair Pat Carroll said a local councillor told the assembled farmers that “practically all agri planning objections in Tipperary are coming from one individual”.

Asked how many submissions he makes on planning applications at county level, Sweetman says he has “absolutely no idea”.

“I go through the planning lists on Friday night and Saturday morning. I spend about eight or nine hours at it. I list the ones that are to be looked at further – that’s usually about half of them – and I make submissions on those. I spend about 25 hours a week at it.”

The submissions all follow a similar template, telling the planning authorities about their obligations under the Habitats Directive to conduct appropriate assessment and remove all scientific doubt about the effect of the development on the environment.

Sweetman says his submissions are not made on all farm developments, but those within a 15km radius of an SAC, which he says is the zone of influence on the SAC.

According to the National Parks and Wildlife Service, there are around 1,768,039ac of SAC in Ireland.

Despite spending hours every week focused on farm planning submissions and appeals, Sweetman insists he is not anti-farmer.

County council compliance

“I simply want county councils to comply with the Habitats Directive,” he said, “which requires a Natura Impact Statement if [the development] may have an effect [on a Special Area of Conservation].”

He is scathing about planning officials in some counties, name-checking Tipperary, Kerry and Donegal, and questioning their “ability to read and understand legislation”.

However, he adds that he has submitted files on farm developments in every county of Ireland except Louth and Dublin.

The impact of farm developments on freshwater pearl mussel habitats is his focus in Tipperary, he says.

What about farmers who are doing works to improve the environmental conditions on their farms?, the Irish Farmers Journal asks.

“That argument doesn’t hold much water,” he retorts. “On the whole, most of the developments are for extensions to dairy units and that means more slurry.”

“There is already a surplus of slurry in south Tipperary, Co Tipperary. Expansion means there will be more slurry improperly disposed of,” he claims.

When asked if his submissions and appeals are designed to delay or prevent farm works, he replied: “Neither”.

“I want it [farm development] done right and if it’s not done right, then it shouldn’t go ahead,” he insists.

The recent RTÉ Investigates programme exposed the practice of “go away money” being paid to unscrupulous objectors to residential developments.

When asked if he has ever received money to withdraw an appeal, Sweetman says he would only withdraw an appeal when someone explains that he has been wrong or misunderstood what was meant. He references one occasion when he did not pursue an appeal in the case of a farm being transferred to a child with special needs.

“I’ve never got paid to withdraw,” he says. “I’ve settled High Court cases... but never withdrawn a council submission or [An Bord Pleanála] appeal for money.

“It’s virtually impossible to withdraw a planning submission anyway,” the activist adds.

Does he have any sympathy for farmers who are subject to significant extra costs and delays by his campaign?

‘Not my fault’

“If they haven’t done it right in the first place, it’s not my fault,” he says, before adding: “I would have sympathy for farmers in the delays that An Bord Pleanála is causing them. It’s taking up to a year and a half to get a decision. I have about 50 appeals in a year and a half – but the delay is on the State’s side.”

On costs, he remarks: “I think some consultants are robbing the farmers.”

A Munster-based agri-planner estimates that the average cost of a farm planning application is increased by €3,000 to €4,000 when additional environmental reports are required for the county council.

Engaging a professional planner to handle an appeal to An Bord Pleanála would cost a farmer between €5,000 and €15,000 at a minimum, depending on the case complexity.

In a case where retention of farm buildings close to an SAC is required, what is known as substitute consent must be sought from An Bord Pleanála. This could cost anything from €10,000 to €50,000 and take from two to four years to complete.

He strongly warned farmers against taking the attitude that they could “build it and get forgiveness” by later applying for retention permission, noting several cases where farmers were ordered to take down expensive farm buildings.

The Irish Farmers Journal recently reported on the case of a Wexford farmer who was ordered by a High Court judge to remove a milking parlour on his farm, which was erected without planning permission.

In another case in Co Tipperary, a 1,000sqm agricultural shed erected close to the M8 motorway was ordered to be taken down after it was built without planning permission.

The IFA last week wrote to Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage of Ireland, Darragh O’Brien, saying it is “absolutely vital” that the new Planning and Development Bill “ensures farmer planning applications are not open to obstruction by false and unfounded claims by individuals or organisations who have no sufficient interest in the progression of a planning application”.

Objections

Its south Tipperary chair, Pat Carroll, said planning objections are “holding back economic activity and deliberately obstructing works that bring efficiency and environmental benefits”.

“Certain works are needed to comply with regulations,” he said. “If a farmer has to increase their soiled water capacity, and a serial objector gets involved, what does a farmer do?”

An appeal to An Bord Pleanála by a third party costs €220 and can only be made by someone who first made a submission on the original county council planning application.

Appeals must be submitted within four weeks of the planning authority decision.

A person can only make one appeal per planning application, but the same individual can also lodge an appeal on behalf of an organisation.

There are no geographical restrictions on who can appeal a planning decision.

A spokesman for the board said it “endeavours to make a decision within 18 weeks of when an appeal is received.

However, due to a significant backlog of cases, the board doesn’t always decide cases within this timeframe”.

There is no refund of the fee if an appeal is withdrawn.