Monthly Archives: October 2012

William Hederman writes:

“We’re going to be rich” That was one response on Twitter last night to the news that Providence Resources has been granted a licence to drill for oil less than 10km from Dalkey Island.

While more and more people understand that it is private companies rather than Ireland that will get rich from oil and gas discoveries here, there is still a stunning level of ignorance around this topic. Much of this comes from politicians and journalists.

Providence is controlled by Tony O’Reilly Jnr whose family owned about half of our news media, so you might expect coverage of the Dalkey drill to be better informed.

When Providence applied for the foreshore licence last January, one newspaper quoted a Dún Laoghaire businessman saying the project “could be a good for morale and a boost for the business community”.

If Providence does find oil beside Dalkey, the only morale boost the business community will get is by admiring the rigs and tankers from the shore.

Last year Providence explained to me that they would load the oil into tankers at the rig and probably ship it directly to a refinery in Britain or Holland.

There would be no jobs or investment onshore. The workers on the rig will fly in from Scotland and elsewhere.

The fact that the oil is unlikely to be supplied to the Irish market nullifies the “security of supply” argument.

And of course, oil finds will not reduce the price of petrol here. So let’s desist with the Dallas analogies please, newsdesks.

The only guaranteed benefit to Ireland is the 25% corporation tax rate on profits. However – and this is where the industry’s lobbying of Ray Burke 25 years ago really paid off – when calculating profits from the sale of our oil, Providence can write off the costs of all exploration anywhere in Irish waters in the previous 25 years.

The likely result of such tax write-offs is illustrated by a private study conducted for Shell in 2003.

It projected that the Corrib project would pay just €340 million in tax over its lifetime, this from a field that is now valued at up to €13 billion. (At the time of the study, the field was worth considerably less, but I estimate that €340 represented around 7% of the revenue Shell would generate by selling Irish gas back to the Irish consumer).

Economically, our oil fields might as well be in the South Pacific, but environmentally, the Dalkey drill is frighteningly close to the shore – much closer than would be allowed in other European countries.

Providence’s own Oil Spill Contingency Plan shows that a spill could reach the shores of Dublin in one hour. This drilling is in shallow water, with fast currents, hundreds of marine and bird species, next to Dublin’s greatest amenity: Dublin Bay.

All being put at risk to show that Ireland is open for business, even though that business will hardly benefit us.

William Hederman is a freelance journalist. His website is IrishOilandGas

Pic via CiaranCuffe.ie

Hedonism(y) Trojaner: a giant resin rocking horse with a skin of recycled computer keys by Babis Cloud.

What is the artist saying here? Is the internet a gift that conceals the bitter seed of our destruction? Or is the annihilation of modern civilisation inherent in the…eh….contextualisation of….eh….

Wheeee! Go horsey!

colossal/ignant

James Reilly’s friend Seamus Murphy (top right) is not only interested in primary care centre sites.

He’s also in the waste business.

Thanks to a little help from another of the James’ gang, Cllr Anne Devitt (above)

Three years ago, Seamus  and his partner Patricia Rooney’s company Murphy Environmental Hollywood (MEHL) asked planners directly to fast-track permission to allow them create Ireland’s first hazardous waste landfill site, or ‘toxic ash dump’ at their existing landfill operation in Nag’s Head, Naul, Co Dublin.

MEHL bypassed Fingal County Council by requesting a pre-application consultation with An Bord Pleanala to determine whether the proposal could be considered under the Strategic Infrastructure Act.

MEHL’s application said the new landfill site would take toxic ash, from the Indaver incinerator being built in Duleek, Co Meath and the planned Dublin Waste to Energy plant in Poolbeg, place it in sealed containers and bury it.
News of the ‘toxic ash dump’ was met with opposition from some locals and An Bord Pleanala set a deadline of February 11, 2011 – two weeks before the last general election – for written objections..

Local councillors also voiced their opposition to the plans – including Labour’s Ciaran Byrne and Tom Kelleher, and Clare Daly, then of The Socialist Party.

Councillors who supported the proposals included Fine Gael’s Anne Devitt.

On February 23, 2011, Fingal Independent reported:
‘Cllr Anne Devitt said as long as the company could prove that there was no hazard in the project, she could support it but her contribution angered officials when she suggested that the council was a ‘competitor’ of the company concerned. She questioned the objectivity of the report but head of planning at the council, Gilbert Power strong rejected the suggestion, saying: ‘I take grave exception to Cllr Devitt’s comments.’ He said the comments ‘impugned’ the character of council management and individual officials and there was ‘absolutely no basis whatsoever’ for her statement. Mr Power said that officials had assessed the project in ‘ an open and honest way’ and he was ‘completely disappointed’ with Cllr Devitt’s comments. Cllr Devitt subsequently withdrew the offending comments.’

An Bord Pleanala held an oral hearing into the plans in March, 2011.

On June 20, MEHL posted on their website that it had secured permission from An Bord Pleanala.

Murphy Environmental then set about to try and obtain a waste licence from the Environmental Protection Agency. Some locals and councillors were still adamant about preventing MEHL from building the toxic ash dump.

On August 31, 2011, the Fingal Independent reported that Labour’s Ciaran Byrne planned to put forward a motion to the Balbriggan Area Committee.

The paper reported: ‘He intends to put a motion to that effect, saying: ‘ That the Balbriggan Swords Area Committee calls on the County Manager and County Council in Fingal to formally contact the EPA to oppose the granting of a licence for a hazardous waste facility on the lands at Murphy’s Quarry in Hollywood, County Fingal.’ ‘Fundamentally, I am trying to stop it,’ Cllr Byrne said.’

It continued:
‘The Labour councillor expects widespread support for his motion among his fellow councillors and county management. County management are already on record as having grave reservations about the project and wrote a very negative submission on the proposal to An Bord Pleanála. But the submission did not convince the board who ultimately granted planning permission for the hazardous waste facility.’

Cllr Byrne’s motion was carried. But he didn’t get ‘widespread support’. When it was put to a vote, four councillors voted for the motion, three against and one abstention.

On September 13, 2011, the Fingal Independent reported:
‘Cllr Anne Devitt (FG) was also opposed to the motion, saying that the facility would be run by a ‘ tried and tested operator who lives in our area and is providing employment locally’. She said that the EPA will not grant a licence for the project unless they believe it is ‘ the proper precautions have been put in place and it is safe’. The Fine Gael councillor said the council should not interfere in the process and it would ‘ show Fingal County Council in a bad light not to be trusting the EPA to follow proper procedures in granting this licence’.

Previously: Seamus Murphy, You Say?

Meanwhile, At The Trough

Dr. James Reilly, Cllr Anne Devitt And The Airside Clinic

No, Seriously, Why Did A New Jersey-Based Waste Company Employ Phil Hogan’s Golf Buddy?

By Ivor Noyek who sez:

Recently, I’ve been looking at Marian Bantjes and Stefan Sagmeister‘s typographic pieces as well as Peter Saville‘s album covers for New Order. I created typography from different objects (flowers being one) and was initially going to spell out a few words that I felt reflected the abundant creative scene in Dublin. But the more I worked on it, the more the abstract solution became more interesting as a cover (the typographic stuff is still in there somewhere, no really it is!).

 

Le Cool Dublin

Landigan writes:

As you know AIB are forcing customers to swap to electronic card readers instead of the old code cards (100 single-use verification numbers) for online banking. Mine arrived yesterday, and what’s printed on the accompanying leaflet?
“We want to do our bit for the environment. That’s why AIB has created ‘Add more green’, a range of environmentally-friendly initiatives that will help us and our customers create a greener world.”

Nothing overly controversial — I just think there’s a conflict between claiming a ‘going green’ mission and replacing a fairly low-impact security system (code cards) with thousands of new plastic-and-electronic devices.

While savouring a celebrated cheese ‘n’ onion flavoured snack?

You may recall yesterday’s post regarding the new addition (above) to the Tayto Park Fishing Cat family.

Well.

We have FIVE family tickets to Tayto Park, Asbourne, Co Meath, to give away.

To enter, simply name the cat.

Lines close at 5.30pm.

(Pic: Simon McDermott)