Decision on North Kerry landbank calls time on 'political football' after 50 years

Sinn Féin TD Pa Daly cautioned that any move to liquefied natural gas (LNG) would have to be careful considered and the priority has to be renewable energy

An Bord Pleanála has granted Shannon LNG permission for a 600MW gas-powered power plant on the Tarbert Ballylongford landbank. Picture: Domnick Walsh © Eye Focus LTD

The future of North Kerry's Tarbert Ballylongford landbank, where permission has now been granted to build a massive power plant, has been up for discussion for half a century.

Tuesday’s decision by An Bord Pleanála to allow Shannon LNG Limited to build the plant, with a total installed capacity of 600MW, is being largely warmly greeted. 

It overturns a previous refusal and gives the go-ahead for enough power for tens of thousands of homes.

However, even among those welcoming the decision that something is happening at last, there is a note of caution. And environmental groups are expressing dismay.

John Fox, of the Tarbert Ballylongford Development Group, has welcomed the decision, but said they would wait to see if a judicial review would be taken.

With Tuesday’s decision on the power and battery station, three of the four elements for the huge estuary site are now in place, Mr Fox noted.

Kerry Sinn Féin TD Pa Daly said the Tarbert Ballylongford landbank had been “a political football for at least 50 years”, and so he welcomed something was at last being done.

“A lot of people have lost hope,” Mr Daly said.

However, the TD cautioned that any move to liquefied natural gas (LNG) would have to be careful considered. He also said the priority has to be renewable energy.

“We have the second highest energy bills in Europe,” Mr Daly said.

Local Fianna Fáil TD Michael Cahill said the permission is 'fantastic news for all of Kerry today'. Picture: Domnick Walsh © Eye Focus

The focus on any emergency supply had to have a State element, not just solely be left in commercial hands, Mr Daly said. He was also concerned about meeting climate targets.

Local Fianna Fáil TD Michael Cahill said the permission is “fantastic news for all of Kerry today".

A commercial LNG plant can be built in Kerry within an 18-month timespan, creating thousands of jobs during construction, approximately 50 permanent posts

"The granting of planning permission is a massive step forward for this project, which has been stalled for far too long,” Mr Cahill said.

Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher said it was simply a victory for common sense over ideological dogma.

“Too much time has been wasted over the last 16 years to get to this point. If planning permission had been granted at the start, the facility would have been operational over a year ago," he said.

"Too much ideological purity has led us to where we are: vulnerable to external energy shocks."

'Climate neutral economy'

Children's minister Norma Foley, minister for state for forestry Michael Healy-Rae, and Independent TD Danny Healy-Rae also welcomed the decision.

However, there has been strong reaction from Friends of the Earth which objected to the plant.

“It is difficult to understand how the planning appeals board could have so directly and entirely ignored our Climate Act, which says that all decisions must be consistent with the requirement to become a climate neutral economy," Friends of the Earth spokesman Tony Lowes said.

“When the Taoiseach dismisses the Climate Change Council's and the Irish Fiscal Council's prediction that we face fines of between €8bn and €26bn for a failure to meet our 2030 EU reduction target as ‘highly speculative and uncertain’, one wonders if that is not his Government’s and its agencies’ belief about climate science itself," he said.