EU challenges €184bn NDP

The government and the European Commission are on a collision course over
the €184 billion National Development Plan (NDP), following a formal warning
from the EU that the entire project is in breach of European law.
The Sunday Business Post has learned that EU environment commissioner
Stavros Dimas sent a letter in the past few days to the government, saying
that the commission believed Ireland’s failure to conduct a strategic
environmental assessment (SEA) for the project was in breach of a key 2001
EU directive.
Should the commission be successful in its action, aspects of the NDP would
have to be halted and undergo a mandatory consultation process with
stakeholders and the public, during which it faces major amendment.
The Department of the Environment confirmed that it had received the letter
from the commission. It said that it had passed the matter to the Department
of Finance.
A spokesman for the Department of Finance said that the government was
‘‘taking a very firm view that it was not in breach of any directive’’.
Legal advice had been obtained prior to the drafting and publication of the
National Development Plan, he said, which strongly advised that no SEA was
required. ‘‘The NDP is a budgetary framework document, and doesn’t require
an SEA. That remains our firm position.”
However, it is understood that there is unease among some in government
about the possible implications of the commission’s action.
The government has been given until next month to reply to the formal
warning, after which the EU commissioner can issue a further warning before
bringing Ireland to the European Court of Justice to compel compliance.ഊA spokesman for EU environment commissioner Dimas confirmed that the
government had received a formal warning recently, but declined to comment
further.
The current phase oft he NDP provides €54.6 billion for investment in
economic infrastructure; €49.6 billion for social inclusion measures, such as
increased disability spending; €33.6 billion for social infrastructure, including
justice; €25.8 billion for schools and higher education, and €20 billion for
enterprise, science and innovation.
The commission has also raised concerns over the destruction of an
archaeological find at Lismullin in Meath, sanctioned by former minister Dick
Roche, connected to the M3 Tara motorway.
John Burke and Pat Leahy
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2. Group calls for change to M3 route
A group which is opposed to the route of the controversial M3 motorway has
repeated its call on the Minister for the Environment to change the route.
Members of TaraWatch yesterday gathered outside the Green Party
headquarters on Suffolk Street in Dublin to urge passers-by to sign a petition
calling on Minister John Gormley to reroute the motorway.
Mr Gormley had "a constitutional duty to give the highest statutory protection
possible to Ireland's premier heritage site and to reroute the M3 away from the
historic Tara Complex," said group spokesman Vincent Salafia.
The group noted a recent announcement by EU environment commissioner
Stavros Dimas of possible legal action against Ireland for a breach of EU law
in formulating the National Development Plan under which the M3 is financed.
Mr Dimas recently wrote to the department saying that the commission
believed Ireland's failure to conduct a strategic environmental assessment for
the National Development Plan was in breach of a key 2001 EU directive.
This followed a complaint filed by TaraWatch to the EU over the lack of
consultation and transparency in the NDP in February. Its key concern was
that environmental experts and groups had been excluded from the policy
formation stages of national planning.
A Department of Finance spokeswoman said legal advice from the Attorney
General's Office before the drafting and launch of the NDP was that a
strategic environmental assessment was not required.

Georgina O'Halloran
© 2007 The Irish Times