Enterprise Energy Ireland has received a major setback to its plans to develop the Corrib gas field off Mayo, following a decision by An Bord Pleanála to seek more information on the proposed onshore gas terminal.
The ruling also raises concerns about health and safety, due to the site's proximity to residential areas.
The planning appeals board issued a highly critical decision yesterday, which gives the developers three months to provide further information. It may ultimately require a fresh planning application and accompanying environmental impact statement for the peat site on which the terminal is to be built, at Bellanaboy Bridge in north Mayo.
The board says that it has "not been demonstrated" in the application, approved by Mayo County Council, that the remote siting of an onshore processing terminal 8 km inland from the landfall "constitutes the best alternative".
Enterprise Energy Ireland (EEI), which is leading the project with partners Statoil and Marathon, said yesterday that it expected to be in a position to respond to An Bord Pleanála within the designated three-month timeline suggested. The company said it would now begin furnishing the appeals board with the information requested.
The appeals board ruling is based on an inspector's report after a two-week oral hearing into the onshore terminal project last February. The board is seeking additional information under four separate categories, the first being the EU Directive 97/11/EC on Environmental Impact Assessments.
It is demanding an outline of the main alternatives studied by the developer and an indication of the main reason for this choice, "taking into account environmental effects", with particular reference to the Killala/Ballina and Westport/Castlebar areas.
EEI has also been asked to provide a more complete comparison on the difference between the proposed terminal inshore at Bellanaboy Bridge and the option of a shallow-water fixed steel-jacket terminal.
The appeals board is critical of inadequate site investigations and detailed design in relation to peat repositories at the proposed terminal site, and the "likely instability" of the proposed bunds or ponds to contain it.
It lists over 30 criticisms on this issue, and rules that an amended environmental impact statement would need to be prepared if "alternative design proposals or methods of disposal of waste peat" are considered. A new EIS would involve a new planning application.
Visual obtrusiveness and intrusiveness of the planned development is also highlighted by the appeals board, and it says that the terminal would have a "significant environmental cost" in the area. It raises the issue of health and safety, in according with an EU directive. It says that it is not satisfied that the proposed development would not give rise to an "unacceptable risk to members of the public, due to the proximity of the terminal site to residential properties and areas of public use".
The Fine Gael TD for Mayo, Mr Michael Ring, said An Bord Pleanála's request for further information on the Corrib gas field onshore terminal justified the complaints of the residents of north Mayo.
Mr Ring had tabled a series of Dáil questions on the project, and at one point also accused the former marine and natural resources minister, Mr Frank Fahey, of interfering in the planning process. This claim was denied by Mr Fahey. "We are not whingers but people fighting for the rights of individuals," Mr Ring said yesterday.
The chair of the Erris Inshore Fishermen's Association, Mr Eddie Diver, said the decision "vindicates what we have been saying all along".
"The mistakes here have been made by official Ireland, from Mayo County Council to the Department of the Marine," Mr Diver added.
