Minister to intervene over distributor road?

TRANSPORT Minister Leo Varadkar may be asked to intervene to facilitate the release of submissions concerning the controversial proposed €120 million Northern Distributor Road linking South-East Clare with Limerick City.
Clare County Council has defended its decision to turn down a request from the Northern Distributor Road Concerned Residents’ Association (NDRCRA) to view submissions for the new distributor road, which has already been the subject of a public demonstration in Parteen earlier this year. 
The lobby group, opposing to the proposed route, is considering making an official request to Minister Varadkar to view some of the submissions after he previously requested the council to release an edited version of the Constraints Report Study about the project.
It is understood that over 400 submissions have already been received by the county council, which illustrates the huge level of interest and concern the Emerging Preferred Route Corridor has generated among residents in Parteen, Clonlara and Athlunkard.
Members of the group visited Clare County Council last week and sought access to some of the submissions made by public bodies like the ESB, University of Limerick, Shannon Development and Waterways Ireland.
However, their efforts and attempts made by Councillor Cathal Crowe to view some of the submissions were not successful.
Senior transportation engineer, Tom Tiernan stressed it would be “inappropriate” to release some of the information in these submissions because it was of a “personal or sensitive nature”.
Members of the public can view submissions made by planning applicants and prescribed bodies such as An Taisce and Government Departments in planning applications as part of the normal planning process.
However, Mr Tiernan insists these submissions are part of a “non-statutory process” to facilitate the provision of as much information as possible with a view to ensuring that ultimately the most appropriate route corridor is selected.
He points out this isn’t a formal planning process so the expectation that such submissions are available for public perusal doesn’t apply in this case and the council has to respect this.
The group also expressed concern about the council’s decision to seek tenders in relation to the project.
However, Mr Tiernan pointed out the tender proposal in question is not totally dependent on the final decision pertaining to the location of the Preferred Route Corridor.
“As implementation of the contract to arise from the tender process is dependent on reasonable weather conditions, it is important that the tender process is run off now so that contract implementation can proceed before the winter,” he said.
The senior engineer also pointed out he doesn’t expect some of the information contained in the submissions to become less personal or sensitive over time.
“Ultimately, once the Department of Transport gives approval to the preliminary design and the EIS [environmental impact study] pertaining to the project, which haven’t been prepared yet, the council will make an application to An Bord Pleanála for planning approval for the scheme. 
“Once this application is made to An Bord Pleanála, a formal public consultation process will ensue, which will facilitate any member of the general public who wishes to make an observation on the proposal. An Bord Pleanála has no role in the current phase,” he said.
NDRCRA chairman, Sean McGovern expressed the group’s frustration and disappointment with the council’s decision
Mr McGovern told The Clare Champion he couldn’t understand why local residents couldn’t get access to the submissions and wondered if this decision was in compliance with the need for openness and transparency.
In addition to requesting when the files would become available, he also asked how could the group make a proper submission to An Bord Pleanála if the project ends up there, to respond to the current submissions if they don’t know what is in them.
He asked why had the council put a tender proposal concerning the project on e-tenders considering the issues raised in an survey work conducted in the short term may be completely different in 10 or 15 years’ time.
If necessary, he pledged the group would go back to Minister Varadkar to try and get access to the files.
Describing this decision as an “affront to transparency”, Councillor Cathal Crowe, who was also turned down access to the submissions, has asked the council if this has happened elsewhere in the country.
He believes the submissions will be released to residents and stressed, like residents, he was only interested in the submissions from public bodies.
This “refusal” has prompted Councillor Crowe to file a Freedom of Information (FOI) request with the council, which he hopes will be dealt with speedily.