AN BORD Pleanála expects to issue a decision shortly on the penultimate stage of the Corrib gas project.
The board is considering a third route for a high-pressure pipeline, linking the landfall to its inland gas terminal completed at Ballinaboy, under the Strategic Infrastructure Act.
It had indicated a ruling would be given last week on the route, which has been applied for by Shell EP Ireland and partners Statoil and Vermilion. The ruling is now anticipated before the end of the year.
Several engineering positions for the yet-to-be approved route have already been advertised through a British construction recruitment agency.
Shell EP Ireland says it is unaware that any recruitment is taking place.
Such posts would normally be filled by contractors for the construction project, but no final contract has been signed, according to the company.
The latest proposed route involves tunnelling the pipe from a landfall at Glengad through the Sruwaddaccon estuary, a special area of conservation, to link with the gas terminal constructed at Ballinaboy.
A British recruitment agency has been seeking three safety engineers for a planned January 2011 start, with previous experience of working on tunnelling projects.
It says this project is based in Ireland in a remote location, and is a 24-hour operation, involving day and night shifts.
In November 2009, An Bord Pleanála ruled that up to half a previous pipeline route was unacceptable on safety grounds due to proximity to housing at Glengad, Rossport and Aughoose.
It advised the developers to come up with another plan, and suggested Sruwaddacon estuary which runs between Rossport and Glengad and Pollathomas.
Shell EP Ireland has said that the pipeline is designed to the highest safety standards and aims to achieve the least impact possible on the environment.
Observers at the recent oral hearing expressed concern about the impact of tunnelling close to Dooncarton mountain, Co Mayo. In September 2003, a landslide on Dooncarton left people homeless and washed graves out to sea.
At the resumed An Bord Pleanála hearing, senior counsel Esmonde Keane, for the Corrib gas developers, said the company had proposed 24-hour tunnelling to expedite the process and thereby reduce as far as possible the community impacts associated with the operation.
The company has also applied for a foreshore licence from the Department of the Environment, and is still awaiting an outcome of an application to the Environmental Protection Agency to review its integrated pollution prevention control licence following an agreement with local fishermen. This review could involve an oral hearing if objectors’ requests are met.