News and Media Releases
Public information meeting on new Corrib onshore pipeline route
28/02/2007
Last night, Tuesday, February 27th, RPS engineering consultants, who were recently appointed by Shell E&P Ireland Limited (SEPIL) to facilitate the selection of a new onshore pipeline route, held their first public meeting in the Broadhaven Bay Hotel, Belmullet.
At the event RPS highlighted their experience in working on pipelines throughout the country. They laid out details of the consultative process they intend to follow to find a new onshore pipeline route. This meeting was part of the first phase of public consultation. This initial phase will focus on consultation with the local community and landowners around the criteria for selecting a new route and is expected to last until the end of April. By the end of this phase of consultation RPS hopes that viable pipeline corridors will be available for further consideration by the local community.
In parallel with public consultation and information meetings, RPS, together with SEPIL, will proactively contact landowners and local residents over the coming weeks. As well as collecting feedback from yesterday's event, RPS has opened an office in Belmullet so that people can drop in and discuss any issues or concerns either face to face or by completing a feedback form. RPS is also available at the following number and e-mail address: 097 20720, or routeinfo@rpsgroup.com
On March 31st RPS will host a workshop that will provide the forum for a more detailed discussion around route selection criteria. Anyone can participate in this workshop by calling RPS to register. Further details of the time and venue will be available shortly.
PJ Rudden, Group Director for RPS, said today, "I was pleased with the response to the first public meeting on the new pipeline route. It gave my team and I an opportunity to listen to the views of local landowners and residents at first hand. This is the beginning of the first phase of consultation and I know there are still many people who will want to have an input into the process so I would urge them to contact RPS over the coming weeks so that we can incorporate the views of as many people as possible into the route selection process".
Terry Nolan, SEPIL's Mayo-based Deputy Managing Director, said today, "As we've said before the Corrib Gas Partners are fully committed to inclusive consultation. I believe that the experience that RPS can bring to this process is invaluable. I am confident that RPS and the Corrib Gas Partners will find a pipeline route that has landowner agreement and community acceptance and I'm pleased that the consultation has now commenced. I would urge everyone with an interest in the pipeline route to play an active role in the consultation process - particularly in these early stages when we are looking at a wide study area".