People in Macroom have until Tuesday 17 November to make a submission on plans for a biogas plant at a former piggery at Kilboultragh. Cork County Council confirmed the date to LocalNews this week. After that, only people who have already made a valid submission can, as a rule, take the case to An Coimisiún Pleanála.
The application, reference 26/2649, was lodged on 14 October by Nephin Renewable Gas - Macroom Ltd and a co-applicant. It seeks permission for an anaerobic digestion plant that would turn "organic material" into renewable biomethane for the gas grid and a bio-based fertiliser. The site covers about 8.39 hectares in Clondrohid parish, and part of it is a disused piggery.
What would be built
According to the council's weekly planning list, the plans include:
- Demolition of 13 old piggery sheds, silos and tanks.
- Three digesters and a digestate tank, each about 15.5m high.
- A reception hall of about 1,964 sq m, up to 16.5m high.
- A digestate storage building, and an odour abatement plant with a 12m stack.
- A combined heat and power unit, a biogas upgrading unit and an 11.3m emergency flare.
- A grid injection unit connected underground to the Gas Networks Ireland network.
- A new entrance and access road off the L7451, with road widening and junction changes where the L7451 meets Masseytown Road and the L3417.
- A discharge pipe running along those roads. The notice doesn't say what it would carry.
In total, the buildings would have a floor area of about 3,317 sq m.
How much material?
The public notice gives no yearly tonnage. The national EIA portal describes the feedstock only as "farm-sourced organic material". The full figures should be in the Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR), which can be inspected at the council.
For comparison, Nephin's similar plant planned at Mitchelstown is designed to take 90,000 tonnes a year, according to its own EIAR. That plant's feedstock is listed as "agricultural manures, slurries, food processing residues and crop-based feedstocks". A reader's letter to the Irish Farmers Journal last December put the Macroom plant at the same 90,000 tonnes. Nephin hasn't published a figure for Macroom.
The EPA licence
The notice says an EPA industrial emissions licence "will be applied for". Under EPA law, an anaerobic digestion plant handling more than 100 tonnes of waste a day needs one, and emissions then become a matter for the EPA rather than the council. As of early November, the EPA's register showed no application for Macroom.
The application also includes a Natura Impact Statement. That is needed when effects on a protected European site can't be ruled out at the screening stage.
When will it be decided?
Council records show the file as "Awaiting Recommendation", with a decision due by 8 December. That can slip if the council asks for more information. Nephin's Mitchelstown application took almost a year to decide, and it is now under appeal.
How to make a submission
- Deadline: Tuesday 17 November 2026, as confirmed by Cork County Council.
- Where: to Cork County Council, not An Coimisiún Pleanála.
- Cost: €20.
- Online: register on the council's Citizen Planning Portal, search for 26/2649, choose "make a comment" and pay by card.
- By post or by hand: send your letter and the fee to the Planning Department, Cork County Council, County Hall, Cork. Email submissions aren't accepted. Allow time for post to arrive before the deadline.
- What to include: your name, your address and the reference number. Stick to planning matters such as roads and traffic, odour, noise, water and ecology.
- Why it matters: as a rule, only people who make a valid submission can later appeal the council's decision. An appeal has to be lodged within four weeks of that decision.
You can make a submission in support as well as against.
Links: Cork County Council online submissions · Citizen Planning Portal · Planning queries: 021 427 6891
The bigger picture
The Government's National Biomethane Strategy aims for up to 5.7 terawatt hours of home-produced biomethane by 2030. Nephin is building a plant at Ballinrobe, Co Mayo, due to open in 2027, and has applied for plants in Cork, Waterford, Wicklow and Tipperary.
The Macroom plans have drawn local concern since before the application was lodged. At a public meeting in Clondrohid in November 2024, local councillor Gobnait Moynihan said there was a "huge vacuum" of information, the Southern Star reported. Nephin had been invited but didn't attend.
Do you live near Kilboultragh, or have you made a submission? Tell us what matters to you: tips@localnews.ie