Call for publication of report into bay infill plan

Dublin Baywatch, the group opposed to Dublin Port's plans to infill 52 acres of Dublin Bay, has called for the publication of a consultants' report on the scheme.

The independent report, commissioned by the Minister for the Marine, Mr Ahern, is critical of the port company's environmental impact statement (EIS)associated with the infill scheme.

This is the second EIS drawn up in association with the infill plan. Deficiencies in the first EIS, lodged in 1999, led to the company's original application being scrapped. A second application - with a new EIS - was submitted to Mr Ahern in March 2002. He asked for an independent report on its adequacy.

A spokesman for the Minister told The Irish Times the report identified a number of issues and subjects on which the Department was seeking clarification from the port company.