AN AGREEMENT BY Uisce Éireann to connect a new Supermac’s motorway plaza to the water network in Ennis, Co Clare is heading for the courts, in what’s believed to be one of the first such challenges of its kind.

Were it to succeed, it could threaten the future of developments across the country unless major improvements are made to the country’s sewerage infrastructure.

Campaign group Friends of the Irish Environment has launched the High Court action against Uisce Éireann over its recent connection agreement for a major motorway service station development.

The motorway plaza is being connected to Clareabbey Wastewater Treatment Plant on the outskirts of Ennis.

The legal action alleges that Uisce Éireann’s connection agreement with Pat McDonagh, the founder and owner of Supermac’s, violates multiple water regulations, in particular the requirement in the Water Services Act that new connections must take full account of environmental laws.

This is the latest legal setback to McDonagh’s long-stalled plans for the forecourt off the M18. He has previously outlined how he has already spent €1.5 million on the development due to it being tied up in legal challenges and objections since he first proposed the plaza over a decade ago.

If complete, the company states that up to 120 people will be employed at the plaza. It was on course to be complete in the coming weeks until this latest challenge.

In its statement outlining its reasons for mounting the court action against Uisce Éireann, Friends of the Irish Environment said it wants to prevent a legal precedent where “overloaded plants are allowed to take more waste”, putting Irish rivers at risk.

The group pointed to several reports by the Environmental Protection Agency which say that the plant is already “overloaded” and needs urgent development because of the number of people who are currently using it.

Earlier this summer, the planning authority An Coimisiún Pleanála pushed back plans for a 100-bed nursing home near the site because of a lack of capacity in the water network.

Friends of the Irish Environment, which is represented by seasoned environmental regulation firm Fred Logue Solicitors, has included the Attorney General among the defendants to the case because of the potential national implications of the challenge.

“Our case is simple,” Tony Lowes, director of Friends of the Irish Environment, told The Journal. “Irish Water must not connect new developments to a sewage plant when it cannot legally treat the waste. The people — and our rivers — deserve better.”

The plant will release wastewater when overflowing into the River Fergus, a 61km stretch of water flowing into the Shannon Estuary.

As well as the Attorney General, McDonagh and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been named as notice parties to the case.

Allegations of overloading at the plant

A challenge against the plant failed last year when a chartered engineer from Co Clare failed to stop the works from progressing.

On that occasion, Mr Justice David Holland dismissed the challenge and ruled that An Bord Pleanála was correct to approve the development given the information it had at the time. The judge also said in his findings that there would be a “very small” impact on the Clareabbey plant from the new Supermac’s plaza.

It’s understood this new challenge will argue that Uisce Éireann was aware it had exceeded capacity at its treatment plant when it proceeded with the connection agreement with Pat McDonagh.

According to EPA reports into the plant, the Clareabbey site has been operating above its licensed capacity since 2008. Late last year, the EPA confirmed the plant was serving the “population equivalent” of 6,150, despite a maximum capacity of 6,000.

“Population equivalent” is a way to measure the maximum load a water treatment plant can process. 

Noting that the plant is currently at a ‘red’ status on Uisce Eireann’s own capacity register, indicating that it has no available capacity, Friends of the Irish Environment will claim that the new development will push this even higher.

The plant’s limited treatment capacity has already led to frequent sewage overflows. The campaign group cited Uisce Éireann data provided to the EPA showing that on 362 out of 572 days between March 2023 and October 2024, raw or partially treated wastewater was discharged into the Fergus River and its estuary.

This river is at only “moderate” status when it should be at “good” status where wastewater is a significant pressure affecting that water quality, the environmental group said.

Uisce Éireann, the EPA and Supermac’s were asked for comment but declined to say anything about the case. 

The case will appear before the High Court on 15 September.