A POTENTIAL investment of €600 million at the Shannon LNG plant is under threat because of inordinate delays in the consents process for major projects in Ireland, according to the chief executive of Shannon Foynes Port Company, Pat Keating.
He argues that the delay-planning permission was granted in 2007- is sending out the wrong message to foreign investors.
Speaking following the decision by the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) on tariffs towards the operating costs of the interconnector, which is set to hold up the potential €600million Shannon LNG plant, Mr Keating said that irrespective of what the CER held on this project, the delays in the overall consents system are unacceptable.
“Shannon LNG received planning for this project in 2007 and it was nearly another three years, in December 2010, by the time the company received its foreshore licence. This alone was an unacceptable delay but it should, at least, have concluded the consents process for this very important project.
“Yet a short time later, in January 2011 , the CER commenced a consultation process in relation to the Regulatory Treatment of the BGE Interconnectors and one that it now appears wont be fully determined until October 2014 when the CER announces the final methodology for calculating such gas entry tariffs.
“It’s only at that stage that the viability for this project, which is already clearly hanging in the balance, will be known. At a time when we are in grave need of foreign direct investment, it is ludicrous to think that a company could be waiting seven years after receiving planning permission before it could determine if it could proceed or not.
“This is not the way for Ireland to go about securing foreign direct investment, far from it. We need an efficient and investor friendly framework but on the basis of what we have seen with the Shannon LNG project, the opposite is the case. This suggests Ireland is not, after all, so open for business.
“If anything, the Shannon LNG experience has shown that we need major reform to bring an end to a consents process that is anything but investor friendly and certainly does not serve the country’s needs right now.
“All the wrong signals have been sent by Shannon LNG’s experience and the news of this is likely to spread throughout the global energy investment sector, which is bad news indeed for Ireland”.
