Submission
from
Enda Connellan, CEO of Dublin Port Company says that the port is working
at full capacity and that it needs to reclaim 52 acres of the inner
Bremore is a deep water
facility 3 km north of Balbriggan which is being developed by the Drogheda Port
Company, with capital from Treasury Holdings. The Dublin Port Company and the
Drogheda Port Company are both owned by the State.
The government should direct the Dublin Port Company to enter into a
joint partnership with the Drogheda Port Company, and to use the money earmarked
for the Clontarf reclamation for the development of Bremore.
It should also state that the container traffic now using
The decision to relocate old established ports or parts of them, is
common practice. This
fact was pointed out at an
international seminar on “Ports Area Redevelopment” which I attended in
For too long the Dublin Port Company has been allowed to act as if it is
a law to itself. It has continually
ignored the
A former internationally known marine scientist, John Purser Griffith,
who was chief engineer of the Dublin Port Company for 14 years, warned that
there must be no more reclamation in the inner Dublin bay.
He said that if any more reclamation is permitted, there would be serious
periodic flooding along
The Government should step in and remind the Dublin Bay stakeholders,
Dublin Port Company in particular, and an
Bórd Pleanála, that the National Development Plan 2007-2013 proposes a
comprehensive study of the role of Dublin Port, taking account of local
considerations, in the context of overall ports policy on the island of Ireland,
urban development policy, the National Spatial Strategy and the National
Economic Policy and this study will take account of the findings of the Dublin
City Council’s Consultants study.
Seán
Nephin,
01
8332134/ 0868511830
“
Mr. John O’Connor,
Chairperson, An Bórd Pleanála,
Dear Mr. O’Connor,
I was shocked and surprised to receive the letter from Nichola Meehan, Executive Officer, informing me that an Bórd Pleanála had decided that the Dublin Port Company’s proposed development-to reclaim 21 hectares of the inner Dublin bay- would be a strategic infrastructure within the meaning of section 37A of the Act-“The Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act 2006”.
I understand that an Bórd evaluated the Dublin Port Company’s proposal without first considering the thousands of objections to this proposal, going back to 1988. When I became aware, from news items in the Times and Independent, that the Port Company was applying to have their application so considered, I wrote two letters to you pointing out that the Port Company is acting against the public interest in proceeding with this matter before the Dublin City Council’s consultant’s in-depth study “ Dublin Bay-an Integrated Economic and Social Vision for Sustainable Development”, had been evaluated. Today is the last date for the public’s response to this study.
Furthermore, I pointed out that the present members of an Bórd would not necessarily be familiar with the history of the Port Company’s various proposals over the last 35 years. These include
A proposal in 1972, to infill 2,750 acres of the bay, an area stretching from Clontarf to Merrion Strand.
Support “in
principle” for the building of an oil refinery in the bay, despite the fact
that an official Foras Forbartha report “On the Location of Oil Refineries in
Support for the
building of huge underground caverns under the inner
reapplied in 1999 and their Environmental Impact Statement was found to be seriously flawed. They applied again in 2002 and basically, this is what we are dealing with at the moment.
The Port
Company acts as a law unto itself. It ignores the City Council’s development
plans. On
“ The
National Development Plan 2007-2013 proposes a comprehensive study of the role
of
This study will take account of the findings of the City Council study. The terms of reference of the proposed study under the NDP will be finalised in the light of the outcome of the City Council’s study.”
I call on you to tell the Port Company that in the circumstances which I have just outlined, that An Bórd Pleanála will not be in a position to consider a planning application from the Port Company until the Government has done a comprehensive study of the role of Dublin Port as outlined in the letter of the Minister of Transport to Finian McGrath, T.D. in August 2007.
Yours sincerely,