About £1 million had been spent so far without the legal power to do so, to have the navigation mast erected on Loop Head, Mrs Madeleine TaylorQuinn claimed. The Clare senator was protesting against a key provision in the Merchant Shipping (Commissioners of Irish Lights) Bill. The Seanad passed the measure.
Mrs Taylor-Quinn, who opposes the mast project, demanded to know why someone in the Department of the Marine was pushing this legislation. It had one purpose only - to have a Loran C Mast installed in this part of Clare.
"In excess of £500,000 has been spent in the purchase of land; £50,000 has been spent to store the mast outside Paris, and almost another £500,000 has been spent on what we do not know. All this has been done without the legal and statutory powers to do so. It has been authorised by the Department of the Marine . . . the Commissioners of Irish Lights and probably by the Department of Finance. However, it is only when this Bill is passed that these agencies will have the power to take these steps. Since this question has not been answered the legislation before us is flawed."
Complaining about the "underlying hidden agenda" of the Loran C issue, Mrs Taylor-Quinn claimed that as far back as 1985 a memo had been sent by a member of the Commissioners to the Department.
It had specified that the Commissioners lacked powers under the 1894 Act to operate Loran C and that new legislation would be needed.
In the light of the fact that judicial review proceedings had been issued in December 1994, why had the Commissioners of Irish Lights sought and obtained authority and money to fight those proceedings in the High Court?
"Why, when they were beaten in the High Court, did they get permission to proceed to lodge an appeal to the Supreme Court?"
The Minister for the Marine, Dr Woods, told the House that the Exchequer cost for the project was slightly more than £955,000.
The Minister was angry that serious allegations had been made about civil servants in his Department suggesting that they had had information for a long period but had not acted on it. This was based on the 1985 memo.
There was nothing sinister or hidden about this matter, he said. The memo had been dealt with when Fine Gael had been in government 12 years ago. It had been suggested, in case any limitations might be imposed, that it might be desirable to examine the possibility of introducing legislation to clarify the position.
On the basis of a broad legal interpretation, it had been considered that Loran C, which was a similar radial system to DECCA, was within the remit of the Commissioners' existing powers.
Mrs Taylor-Quinn said: "A DECCA mast is not a fraction of the size of a Loran C mast."
Dr Woods said the courts had then taken a narrower view of the Commissioners' powers and that had led to the need for the Bill.