Proposed law would enble Minister to decide on process relating to State gas reserve
A proposed law would give the Minister for the Environment power to decide all planning and consent applications relating to the State’s intended gas reserve. The move would mean the planning application for the €900 million liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility on the Shannon estuary would be made directly to Darragh O’Brien. Applications for permits to work on the maritime area, lay pipelines or compulsorily purchase land for the facility would also go directly to the Minister.Such applications would ordinarily be determined by An Coimisiún Pleanála, the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority and the Commission for Regulation of Utilities. READ MOREGreenland latest: Emergency summit to be held Thursday evening; Europe facing ‘existential moment’ - TánaisteHigh Court orders immediate reimprisonment of Enoch BurkeIrish man risks US retaliation for unmasking thousands of Ice officers onlineWho were the Dublin rioters? What 82 prosecutions tell us about the unrestThe move to bypass normal procedures came to light when an all-party committee was asked to waive their right to scrutinise draft legislation for the development. The Oireachtas committee on energy will meet on Wednesday to discuss the request.Mr O’Brien has asked the committee to let him jump ahead to the next stage of drafting the legislation without early-stage scrutiny due to the “urgency” of progressing the facility. Several committee members, including Labour TD Ciarán Ahern, said they would not agree to that. “Pre-legislative scrutiny is the core part of our job. We are being requested to not do our job essentially,” he said. Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore said she would also vote against the request. “This LNG project is hugely costly and there is significant concern about how it will operate, how it could lock in fossil fuel usage and impact on our climate targets,” she said. “It’s really vital that every aspect of it is conducted in full transparency.” Sinn Féin TD Pa Daly said it was essential that the legislation underpinning the facility be rigorously analysed. “The Minister’s attempts to rush to avoid democratic oversight and accountability are totally unacceptable,” he said. The proposed legislation, the Strategic Gas Emergency Reserve Bill, is separate from the proposed Strategic Gas Emergency Reserve (Operational) Bill, which is also being prepared and is intended to set out how the LNG facility would be managed. Gas Networks Ireland has been tasked with developing the facility in the form of a floating storage unit and terminal in the Shannon Estuary.It will be responsible for submitting the planning application and requests for other permits to Mr O’Brien if the law is passed.Mr O’Brien’s department said the law was needed “to provide for a project-specific bespoke planning and consenting pathway to enable the project to be delivered in an expedited manner”. If passed, members of the public would be able to submit observations on and objections to the applications, but they would also go directly to the Minister. Any decision he made would be open to challenge by judicial review under the existing planning law.
