Brennan metro plan may see legal challenge

TRANSPORT Minster Seamus Brennan’s radical plans for the Dublin Airport metro could be derailed if he tries to curtail the public consultation process.

Environmental and legal sources yesterday said the minister could face legal challenges if he attempted to do so.

On Wednesday night, Mr Brennan said that new proposals for a cheaper and faster built metro from Dublin airport to the city centre would require legal changes.

“If we want to get two-and-a-half years down to eight months the big losers are public consultations, environmental impact studies, rights of appeal and compulsory purchase orders,” he said.

“This won’t be done without some pain and the pain would be having less of the luxury of that consultative process. That is the trade off,” he said.

The minister was referring to the Madrid metro, which started eight months after the local authorities gave it the green light.

Legal and environmental sources said Mr Brennan would have no problems if he intended to accelerate the consultation process.

But they warned that if he intended to actually limit the rights of consultation he would face legal problems.

“A suggestion to curtail or eliminate Environmental Impact Statements is not a runner,” said a senior legal source.

“It’s difficult to see how he could overcome that because the EU requires that you examine the possible effects on the environment.

“You can definitely imagine there would be legal challenges.

“However, he could shorten the time limit for consultation and accelerate the procedure,” he said.

Ian Cumley, heritage officer with An Taisce, said: “There is an EU requirement to produce an adequate Environmental Impact Statement.

“It would be illegal to change that. It would result in legal action by the European Commission and could result in loss of funding.

“It would be totally short-sighted and ill-advised,” he said.

Mr Cumley said that the minister was getting hung up about public consultation.

“It’s not the public consultation that delays things, it is the preparation of information by expensively-paid consultants that’s very often the slowest element,” he said.

Mr Cumley said that Mr Brennan could speed up the process by having more than one inspector conducting a public inquiry.

He also said that there should be active consultation with people in order to reassure them.

And he also said that An Bord Pleanála should be given more resources and extra technical staff to deal with any objections in a speedy manner.