Vol. 544 No. 4
76 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources if he will give details of the assessment process as referred to in response to Question No. 50 of 8 February 2001 regarding Dublin Port; the level of consultation with local groups which will occur; the level of support and professional advice which will be available to such a process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28951/01]
As I stated in my reply to the Depu ty's question on 8 February last, the decision on whether to proceed with the application in question, which will have to be accompanied by a new environmental impact statement, lies with Dublin Port Company. No such EIS has as yet been submitted to my Department. The stages of the public consultation process are outlined in my previous reply.
The assessment process would entail detailed consideration of the application by the Department's marine survey office, sea fisheries officers and other relevant divisions as well as the marine licence vetting committee, MLVC. This is a group comprising scientific and technical experts which advises on foreshore lease, licence and permission applications. Copies of the new EIS, when published, would be forwarded to the MLVC and to all groups who made objections to the previous proposal under the public consultation process at that time. My Department would also, as before, engage an independent firm of consultants to review the new EIS.
