Campaigners tag Dublin Port Co land transfer plan 'bizarre'

CAMPAIGNERS opposing Dublin Port Company’s 21-hectare expansion into Dublin Bay have described a company proposal to give up its lands on Bull Island, if it gets planning permission for expansion, as desperate and “bizarre”.

The company earlier this week wrote to Dublin city councillors, residents in the bay area, and community and environmental groups, to outline their plans to transfer their 10.75 hectare holding on Bull Island to the city council and provide more than €1 million for its upkeep and development.

The offer is conditional on the company securing permission from An Bord Pleanála to fill in 21 hectares of Dublin Bay to expand port facilities. The expansion project was last year accepted for consideration under the new “fast-track” planning process, which allows applications for major infrastructural projects to be made directly to the board, bypassing the normal local authority planning stage.

Under this process An Bord Pleanála can order applicants to fund community gain projects as a condition to granting permission. Dublin Port Company is advancing the land transfer as a community gain project in its application. However, it could be ordered by the board to provide additional or alternative funds.

Labour councillor and chairman of Dublin Bay Watch Gerry Breen said the recent announcement by Minister for Environment John Gormley that the expansion site was to be included in a special protection area for wild birds made the company’s plans untenable.

Green Party councillor Bronwen Maher dismissed the company’s offer as a “last-ditch attempt” to get public support for the project and said a council-commissioned study had shown there would be much greater financial gain if the port were to move out of the city. The company has said it needs the expansion to create deep berthage for larger ships.