Mr. John McElligott:

The problem is that these projects of common interest come under the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act. While it is a planning issue, that means An Bord Pleanála is the office of first instance. Normally, an administrative decision is appealed to An Bord Pleanála but a decision from the board can only be appealed through the courts, which is very difficult. The last man standing in court at this time was Mr. Tony Lowes of Friends of the Irish Environment, which was offered €1 million to pull the case from the High Court and stop that objection. That was very serious. Under European law and the Aarhus Convention, one is supposed to be able to appeal a decision in an administrative manner in a timely and reasonable way. However, in Ireland, we have the concept of last man standing where one has to go to court. In this case, he was offered the money from my knowledge. It is out there in the media that €1 million was offered to pull the case.