Shannon estuary will not be ‘frozen for development’

ARTS, Heritage and Gaeltacht Minister Jimmy Deenihan has said the Shannon estuary will not be “frozen for development” in spite of the estuary being designated a Special Protection Area (SPA) for birds.

The department has proposed that the lower estuary be designed an SPA and it has already come under fire from the Midwest Regional Authority which believes the designation is not warranted “and has the potential to create a significant barrier to the harnessing of the full potential of the Shannon river”.

The ESB’s Moneypoint power station and the Aughinish Alumina refinery are located in the estuary.

According to the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) of the department, the River Shannon and Fergus estuaries’ SPA site “is the most important coastal wetland site in the country and regularly supports in excess of 50,000 wintering waterfowl, a concentration easily of international importance”. The site synopsis report states that the site has internationally important populations of Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit and Redshank.

Mr Deenihan said that the local authorities in Clare, Limerick and Kerry “have absolutely nothing to fear from the designation”.

“These designations are here to stay. What we have to do is to accept them and address them and ensure that they will not stop development. We have to address them in the proper fashion.”

He said the estuary had to be designated “otherwise, we are going to be fined heavily as a country”.

“I am now bringing together the four local authorities (two in limerick — city and county) and the NPWS together to discuss the concerns they have,” he said.

“Already, the upper part of the estuary is a SPA and I’m not aware of any project that was stopped because of that.

“This is only an extension of an existing designation and all of the estuary has been designated a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) anyway.

“There is a European Court judgment against us. We have no other option.”

Asked what scale of fines the Irish state could be liable for, Mr Deenihan said: “You could speak of fines of up to €100,000 per day. That is only mentioned. No one knows until we are fined, but the European Commission is taking a much stronger attitude towards Ireland as regards enforcing the law here and there is no doubt about that.”