Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

——looking at all aspects of the design and manufacturing procedure. In addition, with the aid of my Department's technical advisory group, it conducted two separate phases of public consultation with the community in the area. The first was to elicit general queries on the subject and the second was to present a draft report and to hear responses.

As Deputies are aware, I received its report today. I have published the Advantica report, as well as two technical advisory group reports. Advantica found that proper consideration was given to the route and design of the project and if the conditions outlined are met, that the project "should be accepted as meeting or exceeding international standards". It also set out a series of recommendations which I accept. A central recommendation is that setting a pressure limit of 144 bar on the pipeline would, in combination with the extremely thick wall of the pipeline, dramatically reduce the risk to those living in the line's vicinity.

The technical advisory group report accepted all the Advantica recommendations and, in addition, made some recommendations in its own right. In particular, it made a recommendation in respect of the redesign of the landfall isolation valve to incorporate a further stage of pressure limitation over and above Shell's current design proposals. The effect will be to demonstrably guarantee that Advantica's recommendation on limiting the pressure will be achieved in practice.

Moreover, on the recommendation of both the Advantica and technical advisory group reports——

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