Formal SIPO Ethics complaint
lodged against Tánaiste Leo Varadkar over agreeing to meet
developer and U.S. king of subprime lending, Wes Edens, whose company
Shannon LNG is awaiting a planning decision and was accused of a
€1 million bribe attempt in the Dáil
- Accusation that exercise of
undue influence and undermining of planning process in signalling
support for Shannon LNG by the Tánaiste was
motivated by local Fine Gael party-political considerations
- Claim that premature sale of
public land for €25 million to Shannon LNG before planning
decision is made has given its boss Wes Edens the capacity to leverage,
veto and undermine any competing alternative proposals for the
development of the Estuary from the Shannon Estuary Economic Taskforce
and if Shannon LNG actually gets planning permission with 2 LNG tankers
at the mouth of the Estuary then Wes Edens can blockade, monopolise and
sterilise the Estuary from further development.
A formal complaint has been lodged
by ‘Safety Before LNG’ with the Standards in Public
Office Commission against Tánaiste Leo Varadkar for agreeing
to meet Shannon LNG boss Wes Edens who is awaiting a planning decision
from An Bord Pleanála for his proposed floating U.S. fracked
gas import terminal on the Shannon Estuary in Tarbert, County Kerry. .
‘Safety Before
LNG’ accused the Tánaiste of signalling
support for the Shannon LNG project by agreeing to meet the developer
awaiting a planning decision, an act that amounted to
exercising undue political influence on the planning authorities
outside of the statutory public participation rules which would
undermine the planning decision-making process.
‘Safety
Before LNG’ claims that the premature sale of
the publicly-owned landbank at the mouth of the Shannon Estuary for
€25 million to the developer of the proposed US fracked gas
LNG import terminal before a planning decision is made has given Wes
Edens the capacity to leverage, veto and undermine any competing
alternative proposals from the Shannon Estuary Economic Taskforce which
was set up specifically as agreed in the Programme for Government with
the aim of stimulating economic activity "for those areas that were
expecting economic development arising from new fossil-fuel
infrastructure" - the LNG terminal area - when it reports back to the
Tánaiste in November. This effectively means that if Shannon
LNG actually gets planning permission with 2 LNG tankers at the mouth
of the Estuary then Wes Edens can blockade, monopolise and sterilise
the Estuary from further development.
Official published government policy on fracked gas imports states 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”. The Tánaiste, ‘Safety
Before LNG’ claim, is not allowed to mislead the
Dáil by claiming that the Government does not support the
Shannon LNG project while, at the same time, the Government is
committing specific acts signalling support for the Shannon LNG
project, such as selling the proposed LNG site to Shannon LNG for
€25 million before any decision is made, contrary
to official government policy,
The complaint was lodged by ‘Safety
Before LNG’ campaigner John McElligott who said
that the Tánaiste has been subjected to sustained political
pressure from his own elected pro-LNG Fine Gael party colleagues in
North Kerry and West Limerick. He said that to agree to meet any
planning applicant, not to mind the Shannon LNG billionaire Wes Edens,
would be inappropriate in the extreme to any reasonable observer and is
unacceptable in this day and age where office holders are obliged at
all times to observe the highest standards of behaviour and act in good
faith with transparency, fairness and impartiality to promote the
common good in the performance of their official functions.
Mr McElligott also claims that the premature sale of the publicly-owned
landbank at the mouth of the Shannon Estuary to the developer of the
proposed US fracked gas LNG import terminal has given Wes Edens the
capacity to leverage, veto and undermine any competing alternative
proposals from the Shannon Estuary Economic Taskforce which was set up
specifically as agreed in the Programme for Government with the aim of
stimulating economic activity "for those areas that were expecting
economic development arising from new fossil-fuel infrastructure" - the
LNG terminal area - when it reports back to the Tánaiste in
November.
The complaint also focuses on the man the Tánaiste has agreed
to meet. Known as the new king of subprime lending in the U.S., Wes
Edens was accused by ‘Safety
Before LNG’ of being blatantly incorrect in a
letter sent to the Taoiseach in March claiming that the site was
“shovel ready” and that planning approval for the
proposed 26km pipeline from the proposed site “had been
secured” when the planning for it had actually expired in
2014. The letter was also sent to the Tánaiste and posted to
thousands of people in the Lower Shannon Estuary region.
The complainant also brought up the controversy of what was referred to
in the Dáil as a bribe offer of €1 million from
Shannon LNG as legal settlement to the last man standing -
the environmental NGO ‘Friends
of the Irish Environment‘ - to prevent
the illegal An Bord Pleanála decision giving an extension of
planning to Shannon LNG being overturned in the High Court. But 'Friends
of the Irish Environment', it was claimed, apparently refused the money
offered as legal settlement and won its case and Shannon LNG lost its
entire planning consent.
A full copy of the complaint was forwarded by 'Safety Before LNG' to the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and Minister Ryan.
View the full complaint here
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