Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I will speak briefly to amendments Nos. 1 to 3, inclusive. On amendment No. 1, it has already been said that it looks like we are effectively tearing up the Planning and Development Act by pushing this and scrapping environmental impact assessments and habitat directives. At the very least we need to be sure that this applies only to the existing suggested industrial power generation sites that are named here and that no blank cheque is given for the future.

Amendment No. 2 seeks to include in the Bill a provision clarifying that a project is "not likely to have significant effects on ... another state". We are meant to signal to any bordering state anything that might affect it in terms of pollution or environmental impact, etc. To simply remove that provision would go too far. We are pushing a law too quickly to track any development and we are giving a blank cheque in saying that it is unlikely to harm the environment anywhere else. That is why we are opposed to that.

Amendment No. 3 proposes to delete "or any other person" in section 4 of the Bill. We have been told that this is being controlled and arranged by EirGrid and the sites mentioned are operated by SSE and ESB respectively. This suggests that it may be under EirGrid's control or another company's control. It is too open-ended, considering the ground-breaking nature of what we are doing in this legislation. We are conferring on the Minister, EirGrid and SSE the right to pursue a development in a way that tears up the Planning and Development Act and its various checks and balances. We do not want a clause as open-ended as this with regard to who may control it and use these generations. It is a step too far.

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