The Dublin Port Company must get planning permission if it wishes to proceed with a proposed 21-hectare infill project in Dublin Bay, according to the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources.
Dr Woods said that while he had not yet decided whether to grant permission for reclamation under the Foreshore Acts, any consent would be conditional on the company applying for and obtaining full planning permission from Dublin Corporation.
Planning permission was not required under the Acts, a situation which Dr Woods described as "anomalous". He said he had put legislative proposals to the Minister for Environment and Local Government on the issue, seeking to ensure large tracts of foreshore in sensitive areas could not be reclaimed without going through ordinary planning procedures.
The announcement was welcomed by the Dublin Baywatch group, which has been campaigning against the proposed development. "It will put the time-frame back at least a year," said the group's co-ordinator, Mr Gerry Breen.
A spokesman for the company said it would have to examine the decision but stressed it would not be deterred from proceeding with its plan.
The application to Dr Woods was made last October and is the second by the company to fill in the same area of land on the Tolka estuary opposite Clontarf. The first attempt was made in 1988 when the minister, then Mr Brendan Daly, rejected the proposal.
According to the company, the land is needed for extra facilities to cater for increased volumes of traffic and trade at Dublin Port.
An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) prepared by consultants for the company argued that the development would have no significant effect on noise, air pollution or fish in the estuary of the Liffey.
But Mr Breen, a local Fine Gael councillor, said the development would destroy an important amenity, adding: "The port has enough capacity but is not using it properly or cleverly. They have not shown themselves worthy or responsible enough to capture another 52 acres of our bay."
Dr Woods stressed that no decision on foreshore permission was imminent, noting that the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources had engaged consultants to review the company's environmental impact statement and to examine objections and submissions, a process which would take at least two months to complete.
If it was found the EIS was inadequate, he said, a supplementary or revised statement might have to be prepared and published for public scrutiny.
