The report by mediator Peter Cassells into the dispute in Co Mayo over the Corrib gas pipeline provides a good basis for resolving it. He recommends that its route should be modified to address community concerns about its proximity to houses in the area. He also proposes that the Government should consider involving the State agency Bord Gáis in the construction and possibly in ownership of the pipeline, given its good record in this respect.
Mr Cassells correctly points out that most people in the immediate Rossport area, in Erris, Co Mayo and the West as a whole support some such basis for a settlement of the dispute, so long as safety concerns are met. It is time they, together with the company and the Government, moved towards that objective.
National and international events over the last year have increased the pressure and provided a stronger motive for them to do so. Energy security has moved towards the top of the world's political agenda as oil supplies head towards a peak and then a decline, global warming is relentlessly confirmed and competition for scarce gas supplies intensifies. These developments increase the urgency of bringing the Corrib gas field on line sooner rather than later. It could supply up to 60 per cent of the State's demand over the next 15 years - a crucial period during which we and the rest of the world will have to adapt to these rapidly changing circumstances.
The fundamental issue at stake in the dispute is where the gas processing plant should be located. Shell has decided to put it nine kilometres inland at Ballinaboy and has repeatedly refused to consider the alternative proposal that it should be built at sea. There has been little discussion of alternative land based sites, notwithstanding the arguments against having such a long land pipeline.
Mr Cassells's proposals are realistically pitched at this situation. They are strengthened by combining possible relocation with Bord Gáis involvement. Relocation presents the difficulty that it may relieve the pressure on existing households only to transfer it to others. It will be up to local negotiations to find an optimal route. The Bord Gáis suggestion could reassure local residents about safety, in addition to the findings in the Advatica report published last May. Essentially that report supported the project, subject to 19 recommendations which Shell has accepted.
This dispute has intensified as Ireland faces huge choices about energy policy. It is right that they should be debated fully and comprehensively. That must include giving serious consideration to the arguments for and against a national programme for nuclear energy. In an interesting initiative a group of scientists, businessmen and academics called Better Environment with Nuclear Energy has put forward the case for nuclear energy. They argue that it needs a more rational and less emotional debate in the current energy environment. One does not have to agree with them to welcome their intervention.