An Bord Pleanála has approved construction of Shell Ireland's proposed gas terminal in north Mayo as part of the €800 million Corrib gas project.
The approval, which was unanimous, comes with 42 conditions, including payment of €6.5 million by the company towards provision of roads and water, the Mayo fire service and recreational and amenity projects, and the establishment of a monitoring committee which will have local representation.
The board says it made its decision on grounds of the development's "strategic importance", national policy and the planning history of the 160-acre site at Bellagelly South, Bellanaboy Bridge, Co Mayo.
Mayo residents who had appealed the planning approval given by Mayo County Council earlier this year are considering a judicial review.
The ruling accepts that the company's controversial plan to transfer a half-million tonnes of peat from the proposed terminal site at Bellanaboy will have a major impact on traffic and roads, with 800 projected lorry trips a day over six months between Bellanaboy and Srahmore, 11 kilometres away near Bangor Erris.
Shell E&P Ireland welcomed the decision yesterday. Mr Andy Pyle, its managing director, said the company would now review and assess the full report and associated conditions.
The Minister of State at the Department of Justice and former marine minister, Mr Frank Fahey, also welcomed the decision as "very significant" for the west of Ireland, in enabling gas to be exported from the west, instead of it being imported.
The board's decision represents one of the final stages in a long-running controversy.
The project dates back to 1996, when gas was discovered on the Corrib field by Enterprise Oil, situated some 70 kilometres off the Mayo coast in over 349 metres of water.
Royal Dutch Shell, which bought out Enterprise Energy Ireland as the major shareholder in the field, still has to apply for an Environmental Protection Agency licence for the terminal.
This will refine gas piped ashore from the field, along with its partners, Statoil International and Marathon International Petroleum Hibernia Ltd.
The approval comes almost 18 months after the appeals board turned down the company's last application for a terminal, due to the risks associated with transferring some 650,000 cubic metres of peat to an adjoining blanket bog as part of site preparation.
In that decision, issued in late April 2003, the appeals board overruled its own inspectors' other two reasons for rejecting the plan: visual obtrusiveness, and the risk to human health under the Seveso II directive, given the terminal's proximity to houses.
A year later in April 2004, Mayo County Council approved a revised application lodged by the company involving transport of the peat to a Bord na Mona-owned cutaway bog at Srahmore.
The plan was described by an Erris resident, Ms Maura Harrington, as "environmental lunacy", and the leading economist, Dr T.K. Whitaker, also expressed concerns about aspects of it in relation to his own residence in the area.
The fact that the Pollathomas landslides had occurred in September 2003 was also a factor cited by objectors.
The report makes it clear that it believes there is no probability of a peat slide at Srahmore, given its nature, extent and low profile. It also says that vegetation and plantation will screen the terminal site at Bellanaboy.
It also cites a Health and Safety Authority report to Mayo County Council as another justification for its approval.