Mark Garavan

Yesterday’s announcement by the EPA that it is further postponing granting a Pollution Control Licence to Shell follows last week’s publication of three new possible pipeline routes for the Corrib gas project. Taken together, these events starkly reveal the dysfunctional nature of the present project.

There could hardly be a clearer example of project-splitting. Approval to operate the proposed refinery is being considered even in the absence of any agreed pipeline to supply the refinery and in the absence of any consent for such a pipeline. 

The project is marred not just by project-splitting. In addition, no proper environmental assessment has been conducted, or can yet be conducted, given that, because no pipeline has been agreed, the features of the overall project are as yet unknown. Therefore, the cumulative impacts cannot, as a matter of logic, be determined. 

Beneath the careful PR manipulation and corporate spinning, the Corrib gas project is now a byword for incompetence and arrogance. In that sense, it fits neatly into, and fully typifies, the general mediocrity and ineptitude of public governance in Ireland.  

Given the refusal of the present Minister for the Marine to initiate a fully independent review of the entire project, the only prospect for a rigorous and detailed examination of the project in its totality now lies with the European Commission. I urge the Commission to intervene as soon as possible to ensure that environmental protection and the rights of citizens are fully upheld.  

Two recent announcements by Green Party Minister Eamon Ryan give rise for serious concern.

The first were the minor changes he has declared in the taxation regime governing the oil and gas exploration industry. The Minister has proposed a scaled series of taxes on net profits. Given the extraordinary value of fossil fuels these taxes remain relatively low by international standards. There is no reference to royalties, equity share, carbon taxes nor any apparent proposal to ring-fence these taxes for investment in renewable energy systems. Nor are these tax changes to be made retrospective and cover the only gas find we presently have – the Corrib field.

The Minister has also ruled out his own party’s unanimously approved proposal for an Independent Review of the Corrib gas project. The Minister cites the planning permission which the refinery has received as justification for his inability to review the project. He fails to understand the project as an integrated totality. The project does not have all of its required consents – most notably the pipeline consent. Given that, it is Shell’s own choice to proceed with componets of the project. If one element of the consents required fails then the risk and liability are Shell’s alone to bear. In light of an application for a pipeline consent, the Minister is perfectly entitled to review the overall development.

Rather than being ‘neutral’ as the Minister claims, it appears that he and the Greens have been neutralised. Where is the conviction held prior to the election about doing what is right? The Corrib gas conflict has always required political leadership and courage for it to be resolved. If the Greens cannot deliver on policies directly under their control then what is their purpose in government?

I want to record my sincere thanks to all of those who supported my campaign for Seanad Eireann. As a first-time candidate who entered the race in February and with no political party or trade union machine behind me, I am delighted and honoured to have received almost one thousand first preference votes. I want in particular to publicly thank those who allowed their name be used as endorsers of my campaign – Kathy Sinnot MEP, Joe Murray of AFRI, Richard Douthwaite of FEASTA, Lelia Doolan, Dr Jerry Cowley, Davie Philip of the Cultivate Centre, Fr Peter McVerry, Dr Nollaig O Muirile and Donncha O’Connell. 

I ran in order to raise issues that I believe to be of critical importance. These particularly involve the quality of our democracy and our need to reform our economy in the light of peak oil and climate change. We urgently need to bring about a society that is socially and environmentally sustainable.  

I am also deeply concerned about the Corrib gas conflict. This issue should have been resolved years ago and has been allowed to continue because of an appalling lack of political leadership and courage. The people of North Mayo deserve better and I will continue to do all I can to support them. 

Finally, I hope that this NUI Seanad election will be the last one where graduates from all other third level institutions are excluded from voting. The refusal to implement the constitutional amendment expanding the university electorate is symptomatic of our democratic deficit. I look forward to the day when my own students can vote in the same way as students from certain selected universities.

Voters in the university panels have just a few days left to vote for true independents who can provide a genuine opposition to the present government / opposition consensus. There is a unique opportunity to make the Seanad relevant as a location where independent and dissenting parliamentary voices can be heard. It is no surprise that the three government parties are so anxious to ensure that candidates supporting them are elected. 

I believe that the Irish people are crying out for intelligent and reasonable leadership that addresses critical issues. They are tired of sound-bites, bluster and clichés. These issues include our democratic deficit, health and crime, our looming energy crisis and, above all, the need to address social and environmental sustainability. The pro-growth, business-as-usual model supported by all political parties is simply not up to meeting the challenges of our times. It is a matter of mounting regret that parties such as the Greens have now become effectively co-opted into supporting this model. 

I accept that the key drivers of social change are social movements. However, for these movements to be most effective and realise their full potential, they need to be allied to parliamentary representatives who can articulate and advance their ideas at parliamentary level. This is simply the lesson of history.  

There is a final opportunity now to elect independent Senators who can challenge the contemporary consensus and seek to address through debate and ideas the intellectual requirement to forge new social, political and economic models. I call on voters to exercise their franchise accordingly. 

I welcome the commitment made yesterday by Minister John Gormley to undertake a full review of the university registers for Seanad elections. However, Seanad reform needs to go far further than this and must, at the very least, include extending the vote to all graduates of Irish Third Level institutions. 

However, the endless debate about Seanad reform has meant that the main issue of the Seanad election campaign has been the Seanad itself. This is a wasted opportunity to address real issues of importance. Such issues must include significant political and economic reform. We clearly need far greater levels of democracy at local and national level and we need to re-configure our economy towards achieving social and environmental sustainability. We need to recover our concept of the citizen and place citizenship, with the rights and responsibilities that that implies, at the centre of our political and social life. 

In conducting a Seanad campaign, we need to stop talking about ourselves and start talking about the issues. Throughout the country, citizens feel that they cannot meaningfully engage in decisions which directly affect their lives. They have lost the belief that politics is a way of achieving real and substantive change. Vested interests seem to dominant public debate and decision-making. As I have argued throughout this campaign, the difficulties surrounding the Seanad are merely symptomatic of a far deeper democratic deficit and malaise.  

The Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, is today meeting with EU Commissioner Stavros Dimas regarding Ireland’s failure to transpose EU Environmental Impact Directives into Irish law. As a result of this failure, questions have arisen about the legality of the Tara M3 road project.  

However, these legal concerns are also relevant to other large infrastructural projects, most notably the Corrib gas project in Mayo. Shell’s proposed re-routing of its production pipeline has meant that the cumulative environmental impact of the project is now unknown. The consequence is that the original Environmental Impact Assessment is inadequate and out-dated. Furthermore, the division of the project into separate components for environmental assessment purposes is contrary to the Directive and is an example of ‘project-splitting’ – also illegal under EU law.  

It is imperative that Irish law be brought into line with the EU Directives immediately and that the government exercises its responsibility in this regard.