FORMER JAMES BOND actor and Navan native Pierce Brosnan has joined an appeal to An Bord Pleanála against a plan by a local abbatoir which would allow them to dump wastewater into the river Boyne.

The group ‘Save the Boyne’ lodged the appeal after Dawn Meats was granted permission by Meath County Council to construct a seven kilometre pipeline from its Slane beef abattoir plant, to discharge 400,000 litres of treated wastewater into the river per day, as reported by Agriland.

A decision was due on the appeal today but has been delayed.

An Bord Pleanala‘s website listed those appealing the permission as including Save The Boyne Group, Inland Fisheries Ireland, The National Ecology Centre, a local kayaking club.

Several tourist locations would be downriver from the discharge site of the wastewater at Cotton Mills, including Newgrange, Slane Castle and the Battle of the Boyne Tourist Centre.

In a video posted to Facebook today by a ‘Save the Boyne’ campaigner, Brosnan says that Navan, where he was raised, is home to one of the most beautiful rivers in Ireland.

“Water is our most precious natural resource, 70,000 people get their drinking water from the River Boyne. The River Boyne is also one of the most important sites for salmon in eastern Ireland and home to rare plant species,” he began.

“I grew up on the banks of the River Boyne, where it meets the Blackwater. It is one of the most beautiful rivers in Ireland and it should be nurtured and cultivated as a sentient being of history, beauty and life force of nature.”

“Water is our most precious natural resource and water levels are historically low, and cannot handle excess waste at this time. Waste from the Dawn Meats abbatoir should not be discharged into the River Boyne.”

He ended the video with an appeal to Meath County Council to “protect the river and their community”.

According to Agriland, Dawn Meats has stated that its plans will be in keeping with best-practice environmental standards, and will exceed all required standards by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

An online fundraiser was launched by Save the Boyne, raising over €3,600 for “an expert ecologist specialising in water quality and to cover the fees to An Board Pleanála for [an] appeal.”