Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Question 325: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources when he intends making a decision on the provision of consent for the laying of the Corrib onshore gas pipeline. [7138/06]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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My predecessor gave consent to construct a pipeline on 15 April 2002, subject to a number of conditions, including, the requirement to subject all pipeline and umbilical installation operations to separate approval before being rolled out on a phased basis. With regard to the onshore pipeline, the preparatory works phase has been approved under this process and further consents for, inter alia, the installation phase of the onshore pipeline remain outstanding.

As the Deputy is aware, on 25 August 2005, I commissioned an international consulting company, Advantica, to carry out a thorough and independent safety review of the onshore upstream section of the Corrib gas pipeline. Advantica is a world leader in the area of advanced hazard and risk assessment technologies for gas pipelines. In parallel with this safety review, I established a public consultation process to ensure that the concerns of the community would be fully addressed in the review. As part of this process, a two-day public hearing was held in Geesala on 12 and 13 October and chaired by Mr. John Gallagher SC, during which the community was given the opportunity to express its concerns directly to the consultants. The consultants also made a separate site inspection of the pipeline route.

The results of this review have now been forwarded to my Department and I am at present considering it, along with an additional report from my Department's technical advisory group in this regard. I hope to make a decision regarding the outstanding consent for the onshore pipeline in the near future.