Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

There is and must be room for public scrutiny and engagement in the key safety issues involved in any project. As I stated earlier this is a complex process given the variety of consenting and permitting processes in place, such as in the project referred to by the Senator where safety issues proved problematic. There is in any such application an environmental impact statement which includes a quantitative risk analysis process which goes to public hearing and is open to people scrutiny, questioning and debate.

On the point in regard to the safety case and the resulting permit, I am informed that going in at a mid-point or any point of the process would make it difficult for safety officers to do the work they need to do to ensure the safest possible outcome. There is not a point where one can freeze this process in time and then move on to the next stage of the application. As I stated, this process involves ongoing negotiation and working matters out in different ways to the satisfaction of the safety officer. I am informed to put this in published form would result in the safety officers not being able to do their job as effectively as possible.

I believe the amendments we have made are proper to any such safety case. Also, the resulting permit will be published, which is most important. This allows people to understand the standards involved and the operational arrangements agreed.