Minister for the Marine Noel Dempsey and Shell E&P Ireland have both rejected a proposal by the Shell to Sea campaign which aims to resolve the Corrib gas impasse in north Mayo.
The proposal, which was endorsed by a Labour Party delegation and two Independent TDs in Castlebar yesterday, involves establishing an independent and public commission of inquiry to investigate the "optimum development concept" for the Corrib gas project.
The commission would be composed of one or more members who were acceptable to all sides in the dispute, and community consent would be the "critical criterion" employed to determine the most suitable way and location to process gas from the Corrib field 70km (44 miles) off Mayo, the Shell to Sea campaign has said. Other essential criteria would include health and safety, environmental aspects, and local and regional benefits.
Shell to Sea campaign members, including Micheál Ó Seighin and Willie Corduff, who were imprisoned for 94 days last year, attended a press conference in Castlebar yesterday to outline the proposal.
Campaign spokesman Dr Mark Garavan said there had never been a full and independent overview of the Corrib gas project, only a "truncated consents procedure", and previous efforts since the release of the Rossport five last year were "entirely flawed".
The Advantica report on the onshore pipeline involved terms of reference which were too limited and did not allow for alternatives, while the Government mediator, Peter Cassells, had produced a report which excluded the core problem, said Dr Garavan.
"Both of these processes failed because they were put in place as part of a policy of persuasion," he said.
Labour Party president Michael D Higgins, party colleagues Tommy Broughan and Joe Costello, Independent TDs Catherine Murphy and Dr Jerry Cowley and Sinn Féin councillor Gerry Murray welcomed the initiative.
A spokeswoman for the Minister said he "did not see anything new" in the initiative. The proposal "looks at areas which have already been examined by independent bodies and individuals", she said.
Shell E&P Ireland said the project had been through a "comprehensive and rigorous consents and planning process", and "any suggestion that an alternative to Bellanaboy as a site for the gas-processing terminal could now be considered as unrealistic".
