Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

The issue of the appointment of an intermediary who would attempt to seek some common ground between the parties and perhaps be able to map a way forward out of the current impasse has been raised. On a number of occasions, the Minister has indicated his willingness to seek out such a person. However, for such a process to work there needs to be the prospect of some movement by both parties towards some common ground. While there has, unfortunately, been no evidence of this to date, the Minister remains strongly supportive of the idea of appointing such an intermediary.

A second area of concern expressed by local people was the level of monitoring and supervision. The Minister has put new monitoring and verification procedures in place to ensure the developer complies with all legal consent issues. Extra personnel have been assigned to the petroleum affairs division of the Department. A new technical advisory group, independent of the petroleum affairs division, has been established to advise, monitor and verify works being carried out on this project.

The Deputy has raised the question of consents for the project. There appears at times to be some confusion about pipeline consents so I would like to clarify the process. On 15 April 2002, the Minister, Deputy Fahey, issued consent to construct a pipeline for the Corrib gas field development.

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