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Irish Green Party set to commit Environmental Treason as
it refuses to implement the new Government policy against LNG terminals
by deliberately allowing Shannon LNG lodge a new planning application
within days for a fracked gas import terminal.
Minister Ryan is set to
'run down the clock' and not order An Bord Pleanála to refuse planning
permission for the Shannon LNG fracked gas project.
With news breaking locally in County Kerry, Ireland, that US
fracked gas exporter New Fortress Energy is within days of lodging a completely
new planning application for the Shannon LNG fracked gas import terminal, the
Irish Green Party is set to break all its pre-election promises and ignore
appeals from its own grassroots organisations by allowing the application
to proceed unhindered and by refusing to ensure that An Bord Pleanála is
ordered to comply with the new Irish government policy against the construction
of LNG terminals.
It is becoming clearer by the day to grassroot campaigners that the
Irish Green Party is actively working against the climate movement to the
benefit of fracked gas imports and all the leading Green Party politicians must
take personal responsibility for allowing this to happen.
On May 18th a new Irish Government policy against LNG terminals
was published which stated
"pending the outcome of a
review of the security of energy supply of Ireland’s electricity and natural
gas systems being carried out by the Department of the Environment, Climate and
Communications, it would not be appropriate for the development of any
liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in Ireland to be permitted or proceeded
with".
However, Green Environment Minister Éamon
Ryan has refused to agree to a direct order being given to An Bord Pleanála to
comply with the new policy against LNG terminals, using the powers provided for
under Section 29(1) of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended. For
the order to be obligatory it must be made before Shannon LNG lodges its
planning application. It is now clear that Minister Ryan, the Green Party and
its advisors are deliberately running down the clock by refusing to act against
Shannon LNG in the narrow window of opportunity that exists to do so before a
planning application is lodged.
The “Ministerial policy directives“ section 29 of the Planning Act,
states that “The Minister may, from time to time, issue policy directives to
planning authorities regarding any of their functions under this Act and
planning authorities shall comply
with any such directives in the performance of their functions”.
Under section 30 of the Planning and Development
Act, the Minister shall not exercise any power or control in relation to any
particular case with which a planning authority or the Board is or may be
concerned, meaning that the order must be given by the Minister before Shannon
LNG lodges its new planning application.
The Department for Housing, which has
responsibility for An Bord Pleanála, confirmed that the reason it could not
send a section 29 Ministerial policy Directive against the development of LNG
terminals and fracked gas imports directly to An Bord Pleanála so far was
because "the
Policy is not a Policy of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and
Heritage",
meaning it is up to Minister Ryan to act. The order must come from
Minister Ryan.
It was confirmed that a notification which only
obliges the Planning Board to "have regard" to the
government policy was sent to An Bord Pleanála on May 26th. As Minister
Éamon Ryan is the Minister responsible for the new policy, he only has to
request that Minister Darragh O'Brien issue a Ministerial policy Directive ordering
An Bord Pleanála to neither permit nor proceed with any application for an LNG
terminal in Ireland pending the outcome of the Energy Review as is current
government policy before the planning application is lodged, but he has refused
point blank to do so. It is now clear that Minister Ryan has deliberately
kept the door open for Shannon LNG. Why has the Green Party allowed this
to happen on its watch while in government and what would be considered
treason to the environmental movement is set to pose an existential crisis for
the Green Party of Ireland.
Minister Ryan even
went so far as to mislead the Seanad on July 9th when he
stated "we lived up to our commitments in the programme for government.
We issued the policy statement that put a hold on the development of any LNG
terminals pending an energy security review".
It is now clear that since the
Climate Bill was passed into law, the Irish Green Party has lost direction and is
intent on selling itself out to the fracked gas industry, lock, stock and
barrel.
Without a direct order against Shannon LNG from the Irish Green Party
Minister, An Bord Pleanála is almost certainly going to give development
consent to the US fracked gas import terminal.
In
its ruling on June 2nd, An Bord Pleanála decided
that the fracked gas import terminal qualifies as strategic
infrastructure and under the Strategic Infrastructure Act of 2006 qualifies for
fast-track planning directly with An Bord Pleanála. The project also has to be
considered as a project in the "overriding public interest" as
it was kept on the 4th Project of Common Interest (PCI) List after Minister
Ryan successfully defended the Shannon LNG fracked gas import project PCI
status in the High Court in March
An Bord Pleanála has
a dual role in dealing with Strategic Infrastructure Projects on the
European PCI (Projects of Common Interest) List. It is the official body
in Ireland for PCI projects that has to report directly to DG Energy in the
European Commission and ensure that planning permission for such projects is
expedited as quickly as possible while at the same time actually being the body
that decides on the planning application. Given that An Bord Pleanála already
illegally extended Shannon LNG's planning permission (as ruled by the High Court on November 9th, 2020), it is beyond argument that An Bord
Pleanála has a clear track record of ignoring the legislation either mistakenly
or deliberately for the advantage of the PCI-listed Shannon LNG project.
The Irish Green Party is committing environmental treason by not stopping
Shannon LNG and no amount of fake surprise by leading Green Party politicians
when the planning application goes ahead will hide the fact that they ran down
the clock and refused to act and turned a blind eye when they had the power to
stop it. Shame on them all. We ask them a simple question - why are you selling
out to the oil and gas industry?
Ends.
Contact: John McElligott
Tel: 087-2804474 / [email protected] / www.SafetyBeforeLNG.ie
Note 1: Shannon LNG has recently launched what it called a "virtual public consultation" via a slick marketing portal at https://step.consultation.ai/ and
has been so brazen as to refer to the filthy fracked gas import
terminal plan as the "Shannon Technology & Energy Park" which is
nothing more than a floating LNG terminal with a power station
and plans to have up to 8 massive data centres. In plain English -
US-owned data centres powered by US-fracked gas, probably paying next
to no taxation and wrecking the climate while they are at it since
scientists have informed the Oireachtas Committee that importing US
fracked gas into the Shannon Estuary would leave a carbon-equivalent footprint 44% greater over a 20-year period than importing coal
to Moneypoint power station 2 miles away on the county Clare side of
the Shanon Estuary. How do they plan to get away with that? By
benefitting from another loophole in the Climate Bill which will not
measure the emissions produced over the full lifecycle of the fracking
import plan - but only measure, in true tax-dodging style - the
emissions produced from burning the gas in Ireland.
Note 2:
Shannon LNG lodged a pre-consultation application with
An Bord Pleanála in order to be able to apply directly to An
Bord Pleanála for an LNG terminal in Tarbert in County Kerry. An
Bord Pleanála, granted this special fast-track planning status to Shannon LNG on June 2nd.
Note 3: Notification
of new Government policy on fracked gas imports to An Bord
Pleanála by the Department of Housing, Local Government and
Heritage on May 26th, 2021: 
Note 4:
Official record of the new Government Policy on Fracked gas imports of May 18th 2021:
Note 5: Confirmation
from Department of Planning that it could not send a section 29 order
as it is not the Deparment with responsiblity for the policy: |
Hi John, As
discussed. On 18 May 2021 the Government through the Department of
Environment, Climate and Communications issued the Policy Statement on
the Importation of Fracked Gas. https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/f3774-policy-statement-on-the-importation-of-fracked-gas/ Your
AIE request refers to Section 28 and 29 of the Planning and Development
Act 2000, as amended. These references are not applicable in this case
as the Policy is not a Policy of the Minister for Housing, Local
Government and Heritage. When
the Government or any Minister issues a new policy, An Bord
Pleanála must have regard to Government policy under Section 143
of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended. 143.— (1) The Board shall, in performing its functions, have regard to— (a)
the policies and objectives for the time being of the Government, a
State authority, the Minister, planning authorities and any other body
which is a public authority whose functions have, or may have, a
bearing on the proper planning and sustainable development of cities,
towns or other areas, whether urban or rural, (b)
the national interest and any effect the performance of the Board’s
functions may have on issues of strategic economic or social importance
to the State, and (c) the National Planning Framework and any regional spatial and economic strategy for the time being in force. (2)
In this section ‘public authority’ means any body established by or
under statute which is for the time being declared, by regulations made
by the Minister, to be a public authority for the purposes of this
section. The
Board were notified by DHLGH of the Policy Statement on 26 May 2021
with the Board replying on 27 May 2021. The Policy specifically states
that: “In
order to implement the Programme for Government commitment that it does
not support the importation of fracked gas, the Government has
approved that: • pending the outcome of the review of the security of energy supply of Ireland’s electricity and natural gas systems, it would not be appropriate for the development of any LNG terminals in Ireland to be permitted or proceeded with;”……. If
the information in this email satisfies the information you were
looking for, please withdraw request AIE-047-2021. If you do not
withdraw the AIE request, the request will be processed in the standard
manner. Kind Regards, XXXXXXXXXXXX, Assistant Principal Officer, Planning Policy and Legislation |
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