Bord Gβis ╔ireann, which has applied for planning permission to construct a 92-mile gas pipeline from Mayo to Galway, has no plans to connect any of the towns in the counties to a direct gas supply, it was revealed yesterday.
The information was provided by Mr Ger Breen of Bord Gβis, at the first day of a Department of Public Enterprise oral hearing in Castlebar into the proposed pipeline.
He was responding to Mr Peter Sweetman, representing landowners in the Belmullet peninsula, who questioned the introduction by Mr Dermot Gleeson SC for Bord Gβis, in which he claimed the pipeline would bring gas into the west and an EIS statement which claimed that gas would be brought to Castlebar.
Mr Breen said the pipeline from Bellinaboy in north Mayo to Craughwell in Galway would confer numerous benefits on Mayo and Galway. Its very existence would create opportunities for employment, gas-related industry and regional development.
When complete, the pipeline would connect the region to the European grid via a pipeline extending from "Mayo to Siberia".
However, the semi-state body had no plans regarding specific users. It simply planned to build the pipeline which, pending approval, would begin next March, with the first gas delivery scheduled for August.
"With this project we are not proposing to bring gas to any town. We are not talking about any spurs off it for natural gas. No. We do not propose to bring gas to Castlebar," he said, noting the Corrib gas find was expected to last 25 years.
Mr Tom Coughlan, a Galway landowner, said he had no objection to a pipeline being built on his lands but it was clear the gas was on its way to Dublin.
"You are taking something from the west of Ireland that is going to the east of Ireland and that has no monetary value for the people here," he said.
He also objected to the permanent wayleave to lands being requested from landowners.
Mr Peter Langford, of Arup Consultants, for Bord Gβis, said: "It is money in the bank just having the pipeline here which can service the area."
As regards the EU Habitats Regulations, stipulated for a development such as the pipeline, he admitted Bord Gβis had not looked at the "big picture".
The hearing, chaired by an independent consultant, Mr Michael Ward, with Mr Michael O'Doherty, continues today.
