I welcome the Minister for the Marine to the House.
Adjournment Matter. - Loop Head (Clare) Mast.
A Chathaoirligh, thank you for giving me the opportunity to raise this important matter on the Adjournment. I appreciate the fact that the Minister is here and I recognise he is currently under great pressure.
I wish to convey my sincere sympathy to all the families and people affected by the tragedy in Castletownbere this morning. The Minister will be leaving here and going on to Castletownbere so I appreciate the fact that he is taking this matter.
The Minister may be aware that the Commissioners for Irish Lights have been refused planning permission to erect the Loren C mast on the Loop Head peninsula in County Clare. Clare County Council issued a refusal to them recently on the following grounds:
The proposed development would, by virtue of the scale of its ancillary supporting structures and its hazard warning features, be injurious to the visual amenity of the area. The proposed development would, by virtue of the scale of its ancillary supporting structures and of its hazard warning features, be seriously injurious to the amenity and reduce the value of property in the vicinity. The proposed development may be prejudicial to public health due to the impact which the electromagnetic fields produced by the development may have on the population in the vicinity. The proposed development may endanger the health of those occupying or employed in adjoining structures due to the impact which the electromagnetic fields produced by the development may have on the population in the vicinity.
These are the four grounds that Clare County Council enunciated in making this refusal and in doing so they considered a report submitted by the Cockhill laboratory, Wales, which analysed in detail the scientific arguments produced in the McManus report. In analysing those they found the McManus report very seriously wanting in regard to a variety of items. Clare County Council was influenced in its decision by the arguments put forward by that group. The Minister will recall that an official of his interviewed on the Pat Kenny show some time ago clearly stated there would be concern within the Department in regard to the environmental impact of this mast if it were to be erected. The Minister will recall outlining his concern at various meetings and in the other House in relation to the feeling of the local population and the local authority.
I was pleased when the Minister decided to apply for planning permission. Although he did not have to do so at the time it was a move in the right direction. Now that Clare County Council and the local planning authority for the area very clear stated its position and refused planning permission on a variety of strong grounds, the onus is on the Minister to take notice of what has been said by it, the local community and the public in the west Clare area.
The jury is still out on Loran C about the health effects of the electromagnetic fields. The fact that there is still doubt about this issue and nothing has been proven suggests that the matter should not proceed. The people of the Loop Head peninsula and the west Clare area do not want to be tested to see if Loran C is good or bad for the future or what its fallout effects may be. We must be concerned about this issue. Peoples' fears must be recognised and accepted. The fact that the local community are strongly opposed to this development and that the local authority refused the application speaks volumes. The Minister listens to the concerns expressed and I have no doubt he will adopt a fair approach.
The Minister employed the Commissioners for Irish Lights as his agent to proceed with the Loran C system. Will he now request them not to lodge an appeal with An Bord Pleanála to try to counter the local council decision? This decision was arrived at after a lot of consideration, representations, scientific examination of the application and hearing the views of many people. This decision was not taken lightly by Clare County Council and I ask the Minister to take that into consideration.
I am grateful to the Senator for raising this matter, although it is not the first time I discussed it with Senator Taylor-Quinn. The jury has reached a verdict. It returned to court and the verdict, as far as Loran C is concerned, is not guilty. I do not know where the Senator got her information from in relation to that aspect of the matter.
When did the jury come to its conclusion?
The jury is as much a figment of the Senator's imagination as of mine. If we are talking about fantasies, my conclusion is that the phantom jury returned a verdict of not guilty.
As the Senator correctly said, while technically we do not have to apply for planning permission approval because such masts do not require it, I give an assurance that my Department will go stated in the Official Report, 11 March 1993, Volume 135, column 777. The county councillors in County Clare, as is their democratic right, said that this project should be stopped and refused planning permission for the erection of the mast.
I welcome the opportunity to clarify the position in relation to the planning application for the proposed Loran C navigation mast. Extensive details of the project have been given to the Oireachtas on a number of occasions, but I would like to remind the Seanad of the salient facts. Loran C — long range C — is a land based radio navigation system used extensively throughout the world. The Loran C system in north-western Europe is being expanded under an international agreement signed by Ireland and five other European countries in 1992. The purpose is to ensure the availability of an independent cost-effective system as an alternative to the US military satellite global positioning system — GPS — and to significantly improve the safety of investigation and protection of the marine environment in European waters.
Under the international agreement approved by Dáil Éireann in October 1992 Ireland is to join a chain of Loran C masts in the participating European countries of Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, France and Germany. Dáil Éireann unanimously approved this agreement on 8 October 1992. The Senator may have been a Member of the Dáil then and may have unanimously supported that resolution, as her party did.
The opportunity to establish an extended European control Loran C system followed the decision by the US Government to phase out the Loran C chains outside the US by the mid-1990s when GPS became fully operational for military purposes. Loran C's use for civil purposes in the US will not be affected. The US also offered to transfer ownership of existing Loran C transmitters to host countries as a basis for a European system.
Ireland's decision to participate in the Loran C system requires the construction of a radio mast located in the south-west as an essential link in making up the system. The Irish station will provide a significantly enhanced level of coverage in Irish waters, especially off the south and south-west coasts. It is one of the three new masts to be constructed under the agreement; the other two are currently being constructed in Norway.
At European Union level there is growing support for the concept of regional Loran C chains as essential ground based back-up for satellite based systems. The development of ground based Loran C systems under European control is seen as a prudent investment to ensure accurate and comprehensive coverage in the interests of maritime safety. Even in the longer term, such a system will be required to back up existing satellite systems whose availability for civilian use cannot always be guaranteed.
The Loran C system is also superior to the coverage offered by the short range Decca navigation system, the alternative ground based system currently in general use. Lorcan C offers a high degree of accuracy and reliability and a considerable range of coverage for Irish waters. The benefits of the system for the Irish fishing industry and for marine safety generally will be considerable.
The erection of the Loran C mast is an exempted development for the purposes of the planning Act. There is no legal requirement on the Commissioners for Irish Lights to apply for planning permission for the mast, even allowing for recent changes in the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1993. However, in accordance with my commitment to full transparency and openness, the Commissioners for Irish Lights submitted a planning application on 13 October 1993 in respect of the proposed development at Loop Head. The Senator will recall that having met a number of her concerned constituents I gave an undertaking that despite this development being an exempted one, I would, nevertheless, apply for planning permission. To date, my efforts have met with failure. We are only half way through the planning process and I assure the Senator I will send the application to An Bord Pleanála which may decide whether the Loran C is a good or bad project. I will be bound by its decision.
On 18 February 1994 Clare County Council refused planning permission for the mast on the grounds that it would be injurious to the visual amenity, reduce property value and might be harmful to public health. To address the concerns expressed by members of the local community on the health issue, two reports were commissioned in 1993 at considerable expense. One was from the professor of applied physics at University College, Galway, and the other from the technical officer at the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications. The reports conclude there is no evidence to suggest that the installation would constitute a public hazard. Ne'er the twain shall meet. The Senator's constituents say there is a health hazard, but the two experts deny this.
I still hold the view that the widest possible consultative procedure must apply in this case to ensure that both the benefits of Loran C and the legitimate concerns of the local community are fully explored and the facts clearly established. It was with this objective in mind that the decision to submit this development through the planning process was taken in the first place. The project is now being fully examined in accordance with established planning procedures and I am sure the Senator agrees it would be inappropriate and, indeed, unusual to truncate the planning process. The provision for an appeal is an integral part of our planning law designed to ensure that applications and the reason for their refusal are further examined fully on their respective merits. Consequently, it is intended in this case to proceed through the established planning procedures to the maximum. To do otherwise would be to depart from the path of transparency and due process to which I am committed in all matters and in this specific instance.
The course of action which I outlined is reasonable and fair. I am, frankly, puzzled by the suggestion that I should now seek to prematurely end the process of examination of this proposal in accordance with the planning laws. It is the case, of course, that the appeals procedure requires the planning authority to make details of the appeal available for public scrutiny at its offices. Any party is subsequently entitled to make submissions to An Bord Pleanála and I fully expect that such submissions will be made.
Again, I express my gratitude to the Senator for her concern and for again raising the matter in the House. I have no doubt that in due course she will bring the matter to the attention of the Lower House.
I specifically asked the Minister to truncate the planning process, given his record in relation to evaluation and appreciation of the views and concerns of the local community. In relation to the various reports, the Minister has a number of scientific experts who have done research. The local group in west Clare has a number of scientific experts, equally—maybe better—qualified, who examined this matter. They both came to different conclusions as is the position in relation to——
That is what life is all about. You get two lawyers and who will agree?
Precisely. The Minister is the adjudicator in this situation and the ball is in his court. I ask him to return it to Clare County Council and let the voice of the local people be heard.
I heard the voice of the local people and I paid particular attention to it. It is not my intention, however, to truncate the planning procedure as I would be in dereliction of my duty in doing so. This matter must go through the full rigour of the planning process and that is what will happen. I will abide by the decision of An Bord Plenála as I know the Senator, in her wisdom, will also.
The Seanad adjourned at 4.35 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 2 March 1994.