22/11/05
The Great Corrib Gas Controversy >>
22/11/05
The Proposed Corrib Onshore System - An Independent Analysis >>
27/09/05
Trim Castle, A Monument to Bad Planning? >>
Reports
The Great Corrib Gas Controversy
The second report of the Centre for Public Inquiry concerns the Corrib gas project and the associated pipeline and processing plant proposed for the Erris peninsula in north west County Mayo. The jailing of five men from Ros Dumhach in the county Mayo Gaeltacht during the summer of 2005 has focused national attention on the proposal to run a gas pipeline from the sea bed 80 kilometres offshore to a gas processing plant at Ballinaboy Bridge.
Residents of the area have expressed deep concerns over the safety of the proposed pipeline which runs within 70 metres of people's homes and over the suitability of the location of the proposed processing plant to be constructed on bog land acquired by the Corrib consortium which is comprised of Shell E&P Ireland Ltd, Statoil and Marathon, three global players in the international oil and gas industry. The campaign and the response by both the Government and the corporations involved has also highlighted the manner in which successive governments have granted major fiscal and licensing concessions to the oil and gas majors over a thirty year period.
For this report, the Centre for Public Inquiry has commissioned a detailed independent analysis from the highly respected US based consultants, Accufacts Inc, which addresses the health and safety implications of the proposed pipeline and processing plant including the question of whether the latter should be located offshore. Pipeline expert, Richard Kuprewicz, whose terms of reference went beyond the confines of a review of previous Quantitative (or Quantified) Risk Assessments carried out on behalf of the Government on the pipeline proposal in recent years, has arrived at conclusions which can only be described as highly critical of the project as currently proposed.
A separate document researched and written by staff at the Centre for Public Inquiry examines the background to the Corrib Gas controversy, the history, since the early 1970s, of Ireland's relationship with the oil and gas industry and the legislative and other changes made over the period. The conclusions of this study raise serious questions about the manner in which the Corrib gas project has proceeded in relation to its planning and legislative aspects.
The report will be forwarded to Mr Noel Dempsey, the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources who currently holds responsibility for protecting the country's strategically important national resources and for advancing this significant infrastructural project. It will also be distributed to members of the Oireachtas, the relevant local authorities, the concerned communities in north west Mayo and other interested parties. We hope that the publication of this report will contribute to the growing national debate surrounding the Corrib gas project and the wider development of Ireland's oil and gas resources.
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The Proposed Corrib Onshore System - An Independent Analysis
Accufacts Inc. was commissioned by the Centre for Public Inquiry to perform an independent review of the onshore proposals for the Corrib pipeline project, specifically the onshore production pipeline and the gas processing plant at its terminus. All analyses in this report were developed from information supplied in the many referenced public documents concerning this very unusual, highly unique and controversial, "first of its kind" project in Ireland. This report raises serious concerns about the completeness of previous key leveraging statements, misrepresentations, mischaracterisations, prior risk analyses, and conclusions regarding safety
decisions driving current siting choices for the proposed Corrib onshore facilities.
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Trim Castle, A Monument to Bad Planning?
The first report by the Centre for Public Inquiry concerns the decision by the local authority in County Meath to permit the construction of a four storey hotel beside Trim Castle, one of Ireland's most important national monuments. The report is the result of complaints to this office by elected representatives in County Meath and concerned citizens including members of the heritage protection organisation, An Taisce. The investigation raises several issues of significant public concern which are outlined in detail in the following pages. The report has been made available to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dick Roche, members of the Oireachtas and of the relevant local authorities as well as to a large number of interested parties including the people of Trim.
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