A DECISION on one of the first planning applications under the Strategic Infrastructure Act is due in early June when An Bord Pleanála will receive a report on the proposed move by the Port of Cork to develop a €160 million container terminal at Ringaskiddy in Cork Harbour.
Over the past 15 days, An Bord Pleanála inspector Paul Caprani has heard submissions from a total of 56 witnesses on behalf of Port of Cork and several objectors including Cork Harbour Environmental Protection Association.
The proposal involves the development by the Port of Cork of a new container terminal and a roll on/roll off berth on 37 hectares at Oyster Bank in Ringaskiddy which will involve the reclamation of 18 hectares of land from the sea.
Yesterday, in his closing submission for the Port of Cork, David Holland SC said that nobody could credibly say that the port's present container terminal at Tivoli could continue to operate effectively given its limited capacity in addition to its unsuitability for larger ships.
Mr Holland noted that some objectors had suggested that the former IFI site at Marino Point was a more suitable location but there was no basis for the board taking the risk of forbidding the development at Oyster Bank in favour of a theoretical project on land that the port doesn't own.
Mr Holland said that a rail line would be an advantage and even favouring a site with better rail potential would be legitimate - but there wasn't "a shred of evidence of a freight rail line to Marino".
"In the middle of the biggest-ever investment in our rail system, there is not one single practical or actual governmental action in train or planned to provide for unitised rail freight," said Mr Holland.
Regarding concerns about increased traffic flows on the N28, Mr Holland said it was a non-issue as traffic will travel on an upgraded N28 designed specifically to accommodate port traffic.
As regards the harbour association's submission that the project is premature until the N28 is upgraded, Mr Holland argued that such an submission misunderstood the lengthy lead-in times involved in strategic infrastructure planning.
But Joe Noonan, a solicitor for Chepa, said it seemed extraordinary that the Port of Cork was seeking to fast track its planning when it admitted that it could take up to 10 years to proceed with the project.
Consultant Paul McTiernan, for the Port of Waterford, argued that the proposal was excessive in scale and will hinder the achievement of balanced regional development leading to a potential illogical redistribution of all-island freight and logistics traffic.