Closing submissions are due to be made today by parties involved in the An Bord Pleanála oral hearing in Ballina on the proposed development of a gas terminal at Bellanaboy Bridge in north Mayo.
In a submission to the hearing yesterday, Ms Maura Harrington, for local residents, said the development would "rubbish a 5,000-year-old place".
"I make this submission in defence of place. I believe it is insupportable that a region possessed of the environmental integrity of Erris should be abandoned to this cheapskate proposal."
Mr Eamon Galligan SC, for the developer, Enterprise Energy Ireland (EEI), objected to the language used by Ms Harrington and warned that legal action would be taken on any defamatory words.
Urged by An Bord Pleanála inspector, Mr Kevin Moore, to carefully review any remarks parties intended to make, Ms Harrington concluded: "Erris is a clean, healthy, beautiful place. The oil/gas industry is a dirty industry. Bellanaboy is not the place for a gas refinery and Broadhaven Bay and Sruwaddacon are not suitable repositories for waste. I ask An Bord Pleanála to uphold our appeal against the granting of planning permission for this terminal by Mayo County Council."
In a submission on the issue of possible alternative sites for the terminal, Mr Edward Moran, for local residents, criticised the content of reports submitted by EEI, which, he said, were full of assertions without foundation.
"All of it is assertions, then omissions, partial truths and missing information; all the tools of a debating team are employed here to confuse, to brainwash even. Overall, the strategy is to exaggerate what is positive and understate what is negative. All combined, you end up with a very distorted and misleading picture," he said.
Quoting an extract from an EEI report which claimed, "the risk to people near the terminal would be within reasonable levels and would not result in any fatality", he said: "That is a very questionable statement. I thought only God could give those assurances."
He said investigations into certain aspects of site selection were said in some reports to be limited by cost. "We are not being told the truth and that is the hallmark of the entire submission ... That quality of information will not do. It is absolutely scandalous that these reports are written by experts to con us, to fool us, to get a foothold among us."
Mr Galligan SC said EEI wished to rebut Mr Moran's allegations. "In addressing An Bord Pleanála's request for further information, EEI engaged 12 firms of consultants and a peer review group, highly qualified and experienced people. We reject utterly that this information has been presented in a disingenuous or incomplete way."
Mr John Easey, project manager of the terminal, said he acknowledged Mr Moran's admitting that he was not an expert in the area, as this was definitely the case. "He is guilty of using the same sort of selective data as he accuses us of using. We have evaluated the option of an offshore platform, as requested by the board, and have demonstrated it is inferior in terms of cost, safety and the environment, but the absolute show-stopper is cost."