An environmental consultant and a Mayo resident are seeking judicial reviews of planning for the €800 million Corrib gas field project.
The applications are due to be heard next month as Shell E&P Ireland prepares to start work on the gas refinery at Bellanaboy, Co Mayo. Earlier this month, Shell's managing director, Mr Andy Pyle, said it was "all systems go" for work on building the onshore refinery, following approval by An Bord Pleanála in late October.
The board's responsibilities in relation to international legislation on major accident hazards and dangerous substances, and its failure to seek an environmental impact assessment for the entire project, are the main grounds for the judicial reviews.
A review of the board's responsibilities relating to the Seveso II Directive has been filed by Mr Martin Harrington, an electrician in Geesala and brother of Ms Maura Harrington, the schoolteacher who led residents' opposition to the project.
Mr Harrington argues that as a consequence of Ireland's membership of the EU, An Bord Pleanála has a legal obligation to ensure that the provisions of the Seveso II Directive on dangerous substances and the Major Accident Regulations are fully met under Irish law. No planning permission was sought by the developer for the pipeline transporting the gas onshore, although 900 metres of pipe would extend from the security fencing to the perimeter of the terminal site and would have a "direct consequence" for Mr Harrington and other residents in the area.
Mr Harrington said An Bord Pleanála failed to obtain technical advice from the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) in relation to this section of pipeline. The HSA technical advice which was submitted to Mayo County Council related only to part of the plant and infrastructure planned by Shell. The board had essentially "set aside" the Seveso II Directive when it came to the Corrib gas field, he said.
Mr Harrington said he was aware of the submission made by Galway-based engineer Mr Brian Coyle to An Bord Pleanála in relation to the stability and safety of the pipeline route. Mr Coyle, who is from the Erris area, lodged an objection to Shell's last planning application for the terminal, principally on health and safety grounds, and called earlier this year for a safety audit of the project by the HSA.
He claimed the high pressure pipeline linking the offshore gas field to the onshore terminal at Bellanaboy would be in breach of the Seveso II Directive, as it will run under Dooncarton Hill where landslides occurred in September 2003, and close to private houses.
The second judicial review application has been lodged by Mr Peter Sweetman, a Dublin-based planning and environmental consultant. He said in his application that An Bord Pleanála was in breach of two directives by failing to conduct an environmental impact assessment of the entire Corrib gas project.