The landslide in Mayo indicates An Bord Pleanála made the right decision on the Corrib proposal, writes Frank McDonald
Last May, An Bord Pleanála was criticised by pro-development interests in the west for its decision to refuse planning permission for the Corrib gas terminal at Bellanaboy, Co Mayo, because it was concerned about the safety of the peat mountain it would have created.
The Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Ahern, expressed the Government's regret that it would further delay the development of the Corrib gas field, while Mr Frank Fahey, Minister of State for Labour Affairs, described the reason given as "a technicality".
Not many people living in the area affected by the landslide on Dooncarton Mountain, just over two miles from the proposed terminal, would be quite so dismissive.
They saw roads ripped up, bridges damaged and even a graveyard devastated by the slippage of a blanket bog.
Enterprise Energy Ireland, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, had planned to excavate more than 600,000 cubic metres of peat from the site of the proposed terminal.
It was to be stored in two repositories on another part of the site, overlaid on a sloping blanket bog of variable thickness.
An Bord Pleanála refused planning permission for the development on a single ground - that the "high probability" of both of these peat repositories becoming unstable would constitute "an unacceptable risk to the health and safety of the local community and of the general public".
It made this decision having regard to the contours of the area, the amount and pattern of rainfall there, the characteristics of the disaggregated peat, the method proposed for moving material to the repositories and the details of the system for retaining it on the site.
Nobody could accuse An Bord Pleanála of having treated the matter lightly.
There had been a 22-day oral hearing on appeals against Mayo County Council's decision to approve the proposed terminal - including the excavation of 660,000 cubic metres of peat and its subsequent storage.
A detailed report was prepared by Mr Kevin Moore, the planning inspector who conducted the oral hearing, aided by a specialist consultant, Mr David Ball, and the full board then spent two days considering the case.
Members of the board also visited the site to see it for themselves.
The appeals board had to be careful, given the political sensitivity of Enterprise Energy Ireland's planning application, which was seen by Government ministers and others as the key to tapping in to the rich vein of natural gas found off the west coast, bringing jobs and investment to Co Mayo.
The report considered by An Bord Pleanála suggested a range of reasons for refusing permission, including the fact that the site would be remote from where the pipeline hit the shore and that the terminal would detract from the area's scenic amenity as well as degrading its fragile ecology.
It said the development of a large gas-processing terminal "at this rural, scenic and unserviced area on a bogland hill ... with all its site development works difficulties, public safety concerns \ adverse visual, ecological and traffic impacts ... defies any rational understanding of the term 'sustainability'."
Given the high level of rainfall experienced in north-west Mayo, the report specifically warned that there was a "real risk" of the repositories failing, with "massive amounts of peat" potentially being "washed off the slope", destroying the drainage system as well as public roads and houses in the vicinity.
In its ruling, the appeals board zeroed in on this public safety issue, discounting all of the other arguments.
Friends of the Irish Environment called the refusal of the application by An Bord Pleanála a "brave defence of basic science", saying infrastructural delays were "inevitable if environmental impact assessments are fundamentally flawed".
The board has been vindicated by last weekend's landslide, which was mercifully non-fatal.
"It's been certainly proved that peat can move and this will have to be looked at if there's a new planning application [by Enterprise Energy Ireland]," the Mayo county secretary, Mr John Condon, said yesterday.
His interpretation of the ruling was that the board "wasn't happy with the way peat was going to be managed on the site".
This was something the developers would have to consider because the landslide on Dooncarton Mountain had highlighted the occasional instability of blanket bog.
However, Mr Condon said that if the peat excavated from the terminal site was to be taken away altogether, rather than stored, "it wouldn't be a problem".
At least 300,000 cubic metres of peat had been shifted for the Knock-Claremorris bypass, though he didn't know what happened to it.
The development of the main runway at Knock Airport - on what the late Jim Mitchell TD memorably called a "foggy, boggy mountain in Mayo" - had also shown that it's "within the capabilities of modern engineering to do that".
In the meantime, Mayo County Council is keeping tabs on how much it is costing to restore normality around Dooncarton Mountain - and it will be requesting emergency aid from the Department of the Environment to help defray the expense.
Frank McDonald is Environment Editor of The Irish Times