By 
MORE than 3,000 people have now signed a petition calling for increased openness from the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) ahead of the resumption of the public inquiry into plans for a goldmine near Greencastle.
The petition, which is being supported by the Save Our Sperrins group, wants the PAC to implement three different measures to ensure that the inquiry is ‘transparent and accessible’ to the general public. Hearings are due to resume in April, more than a year after being suspended in early 2025.
At the hearings then, which took place in the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh, objectors to the Dalradian goldmine development, expressed serious concerns that experts working on their behalf were not being permitted to make their statements remotely. There were also concerns that local people were unable to fully participate in the proceedings.
“With no live stream, nor access to online recording, or an option to contribute remotely as an expert witness, this inquiry has been anything but public,” the petition states.
“As a result, many people cannot properly engage with the inquiry because they cannot be present every day due to work commitments, illness, childcare and other caring responsibilities. Compounding this exclusion, adults are not permitted to bring children into the public inquiry in order to attend.”
Campaigners say that a precedent was set when an inquiry into plans for a major windfarm development at Doraville close to Broughderg permitted witnesses to contribute online. They claim that the current restriction on remote access ‘smacks of misogyny.’
However, in a statement to the TyroneHerald, the PAC referred to its ‘Inquiry Procedures’ document which is available on the Curraghinalt page of their website.
In correspondence issued in September 2024, ahead of the adjourned public inquiry, the Commission said that all hearings will take place ‘in person.’
The PAC has in past cases ruled against calls for remote access to be provided.
