I propose to take Questions Nos. 201 and 202 together.
Following a public procurement process, my Department appointed Environ UK Ltd to assist the Department in monitoring compliance by the developers of the Corrib gas project with the conditions of the consents granted in February 2011 to construct the Corrib gas pipeline and an addendum of modifications to the already approved Corrib Plan of Development. Environ’s role includes, but is not limited to:
- the carrying out of onsite monitoring including spot checks on the construction activities of the Corrib Partners to determine compliance with the consent conditions;
- reporting on a regular basis to my Department;
- attending meetings of the Consent Conditions Monitoring Committee established pursuant to the above consents; and
- liaising with other relevant authorities with respect to ensuring the implementation of the consent conditions.
I will arrange to have a copy of the Terms of Reference for this consultancy forwarded to the Deputy.
Responsibility for adherence to the conditions of the mentioned consents is a matter for the developer and Environ’s role is to assist my Department in monitoring compliance by the developer.
The contract awarded to Environ UK Limited commenced in June 2011. The total sum of payments made to date under the contract in respect of invoices submitted by Environ to the Department for the period June 2011 to March 2015 inclusive, is €772,624.80 (including VAT).
The consents granted to Shell Exploration and Production Ireland Ltd (SEPIL) provide that costs incurred by my Department in monitoring compliance with those consents may be recouped from the developer. To date a total of €738,961 has been reimbursed from SEPIL in respect of fees/VAT payable in respect of the Environ contract for the period June 2011 to January 2015 inclusive. A request for a further reimbursement of fees covering the period February to June 2015 will be issued to SEPIL in mid July 2015.
As mentioned, the requirement for SEPIL to reimburse my Department for costs incurred results from a consent condition and there is not a separate contract with SEPIL governing this. The committee established by my Department to assist it in monitoring compliance with the consents is called the Consents Conditions Monitoring Committee. The committee mentioned by the Deputy, the Project Monitoring Committee, is a committee established by Mayo County Council.
