T Oifigon Ombudsmon Officeof the Ombudsmon Our Reference : Ll8-09-0561 2l April2009 Mr Johnny McElligott Kilcolgan ResidentsAssociation Island View 5 Convent Street Listowel Co Kerry ---Dear Mr.MeElligott I refer to your email dated 9 March, 2009, in relation to Kerry County Council and your conversationregarding the matter with my colleague,Mr. David Ryan. I apologisefor the delay in replying to your email. I understandthat you consideryour email of 9 March raisesnew issuesregarding your complaint againstKerry County Council. Ha,vingdiscussed the matter, Mr. Ryan explained that any new issuesyou wished this Offrce to examine should be first raised in writing with the Council and it should be given an opportunity to respond. I wish to confirm that, if you considerthere are further.issuesthe Council should now address,you should write to the Council regardingthese matters, and, if you do not receive a responsewithin six weeks, or if you are not satisfiedwith the responsereceived, you can then contact this Office again. We will then look at the matter further atthat stagewith a view to examining any mattersthatfall within the Ombudsman'sremit. However, I should add that it would appearto this Office that the issuesraised in your email - mafhave been addressedin our examination of your earlier complaint at reference Ll8l07l25I8. You will recall that in our letter dated 3 April, 2008, we advisedyou that the Council had informed this Office, in relation to the ShannonLGN project, that ' ... at the time of the variation no applicationfor such a developmenthad been lodged. In proposing the variation Kerry County Council had to be cognisant of the possibility that the project might not proceed to application stage and theproposed variationfor industrial zoning could not therefore be assessedon a project specific basis.' Points 2,3 and4 of that letter also advised of the Council's commentson your claim that the screeningprocess was inadequatedue to the fact that it did not refer to the option of ShannonLNG to purchasethe site. 1B Sr6idLiosain iochtarach, Baile Atha Cliath2. I ta Lo*"r LeesonStreet, Dublin 2. Tel:+353 1 639 5600 Fax:+353 1 639 5674 Web:wvwv.ombudsman.ie Mr. Ryan email to you dated I September,2008,also indicated that the Council had advised this Office 'In relation to the SEA and thefact that the ShannonLNG project was not assessedas part of the screeningprocess, it is worth noting that the area of lands zonedfor industrial divelopment wasfar in excessof the land requiredfor the ShannonLNG proposal. It was a voriationfor industrial rezoning and not project specificfor ShannonLNG- To have consideredShannon LNG aspart of the screeningprocesswould have involved a dffirent type of specific zoning e.g. zonedspecificallyfor a gas storqge and importationformed. There wss no guarantee that any applicationwouldbe lodgedfor this purpose and Kerry County Council was not about to underminethe industrial potential of the landfor alternative uses..... For the reqsonsstated, Kerry County Council deliberately did not wsnt to zone lands specificallyfor a gas importation terminal'' Having carefully examinedthe complaint from you at our referencenumber LI8l07l25l8, and the information submitted by Kerry County Council regarding the matter, this Office concludedthat it seemedthe Council had actedin accordancewith the correct administrative procedures and there was insufficient evidence to find that there was maladministration by Kerry County Council. Our letter to you dated 5 January,2009, indicated our view on the matter. However, if you now considerthat there are new issuesthe Council should addressregarding the matter you should put these specific points to the Council and await its reply. Yours sincerely JeanSullivan On behalf of the Ombudsman i t Kilcolgan Residents Association Telephone: +353-87-2804474 c/o Island View Email: [email protected] Convent Street Web: www.safetybeforelng.com Listowel County Kerry Kilcolgan Residents Association & Safety Before LNG Protecting the Shannon Estuary 9 March 2009 David Ryan, Investigator, The Office of the Ombudsman, 18 Lr. Leeson Street, Dublin 2 By Email to: [email protected] c.c. [email protected] Re: Complaint concerning refusal to carry out an SEA on variation No 7 of 2007 to Kerry County Development Plan (reference L18/07/2518) Dear Mr. Ryan, Thank you for your letter dated 5 January 2009. Please note that, as I already pointed out to you in my letter of 16 April 2008, the fact that the area was being rezoned for industrial use in a general sense - as opposed to being rezoned for an LNG terminal in particular - does not effect the real purpose of an SEA screening decision. The criteria for determining whether the variation to the development plan requires an SEA is determined by whether or not “the plan is LIKELY to have significant effects on the environment” and by “the characteristics of the effects and of the area LIKELY to be effected”1. Secondly, Kerry County Council claims that since the LNG project might not proceed to planning application stage its decision to ignore the possibility of a Seveso II LNG terminal in the SEA screening is justified. This justification is contradicted by the fact that MONEY HAD ALREADY CHANGED HANDS when the decision to rezone without an SEA took place on March 12th 2007. Shannon Foynes Port Company made publicly available, in June 2008, the information of the option- to-purchase agreement between Shannon Development and Shannon LNG being conditional on obtaining planning permission within 2 years2. From Shannon LNG accounts lodged with the Companies Registration Office, attached below, for year ended 31 December 2006, it is noted that Shannon LNG had already paid at least €493,000 to Shannon Development by December 2006 1 See Schedule 2A of the Planning and Development (Strategic Environmental Assessment) Regulations 2004 2 http://www.sfpc.ie/LNG_01_Shannon-Issue%201.pdf Section 3.1 page 22 (three months before the vote) and this figure rose to €1,233,000 by year end December 31st 2007 (although it is not clear if this extra €740,000 in 2007 was paid before or after the vote of March 12th 2007). The sums of money transferred speak for themselves. Councillor John Brassil, a director of Shannon Development at the time of the signing of the option to purchase with Shannon LNG had asked the Executive of Kerry County Council to give this LNG project “every support” in the Council Meeting of 20 June 2006. The senior management team announced at that meeting to oversee the LNG project were confirmed by you in your letter of January 5th 2009 as consisting of Martin Riordan, Tom Curran, Michael McMahon and Tom Sheehy. I ask that you now consider my complaint in the light of the fact that nearly half a million euros had changed hands before the decision to rezone took place. It at least proves that the LNG proposal was likely to go ahead, does it not? I await your feedback. Yours sincerely, Johnny McElligott rilIffiffiililililtffiilrffiilffi|ffiffi| 3055459 SIIAIINON LNG LTMITED DIRECTORSIREFORTAI{D FTNAI\ICIALSTATEMENTS FORTBEYEARENDED 3I DECEMBER2006 br _4 ShannonLNG Limited DIREcroRs'REpoRT AND FINANcteL srarbvpNrs for thc yearerrdcd 3l Dcccmbcr2006 TABLE OF CONTENTS I PAGE COMPANY INFORMATION \, DIRECTORS'REPORT 3 INDEPENDEI.ITAUDITORS' REPORT PROFITAND LOSSACCOLTNT BALANCE SHEET NOTESTO T}IE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS .'*l ShannonLNG Limited COMPANYINFORMATTON DIRECTORS Patrick Power Gordon Shcarer SECRETARY MatsackTrust Limitcd REGISTEREI}OFFICE 30 Hcrbcrt Steet Dublin 2 SOLICITORS MuhesonOrmsbr r."J,r. 30HcrbertSnea I Dublin2 BANKERS Allicd lrish Bank Main Street Blaclaock Dublin AUDITORS Ernst and Young CharlercdAccountants Barringfon House Barrington Strcct Limerick "l ShannonLNG Limited DIRECTORS'REPORT for thc year endcd 3 I Dcccmber2006 (All figures drc exp'ressedin tbousandsof Euro) The directors prescnt thcir rcaort and frnancial stateirents for the ycar endcd 3 I December PRTNCIPAL ACTMTIES, BUSINESSREVIEY AI{D FUTURE I Shannon LNC Limited (company) is a dcvelopmdnt stagc company, engagedin the of liquefied natual gas (LNG) marine impo,rt terminal's. Th" comp*y ir oilJ"try working sccurcall pennits n€ccssary to develop a terminal located il county Kcrry. construciion of thc - expcctedto begin oncc all the psrmits arc obtaincd. I The company was formerly known as the Irish NadionatEncrgy company Limited On l9u' April 2006Hess LNC LimitedfiEss LNC).a ioirit vcnhuebaween il".r oit anadas u-310i^g,r".. (HOGHI)' a subsidiaryof Hcss Corporation(HESS) and Midsream Beta Limitcd. a subsidiarvof Poten& Partnr-rsGroup, LLc (POTEN)acquired ltiEc. rne namcof thc companywas .rt!"g.#". INEC to ShannonLNC Limited on that date. on lgtr April 2006, thc company entcred into ah option agfecmenr with shannon J" ei-on Dcvelopment Company Limitcd to purchascup to i8l acresfon thc purposcsof developiig * ipc eqq<,irexf marine impcnttcrminal. As of 3l Deccmbcr2006 the companyhas paid €4f3r- gndcr----- thc rlins of* the optionagroemcnt. ! --'1* -* RESULTSFOR THE YEARAIID $TATE OF AFFAIRSAT 3T DECEMBER2006 profit Thc & loss account and balance sheet arc rdt out on pages ? & g. All projor ,tlrtup incurred to date have bcenchargcd to cxpcnsc,wit! thc cxceptionofoption p"yr*t, f. ih;;r;i.","ort " sitc in Shannonand depositsfor officc space. The colnpany rocordeda loss of €2,5s0 fgr thJ year. TMPORTANI'EVENTSSTNCE TrrE YEAR ENri i * on 8t March2007, HocHl increaseditsequity o*olrship in thccompany by acquiring ssyl of Midstscam Betl Limited's equity. Following the tarisacrion,thc is o*n*o pZls"l, u'vnocHl and7.SYoby MidstrcamBcta Limitcd. "omiaoy i DIR.ECTORS q 18" April 2006 Ms' CathcrinePowcr resigncdiasa director and was replaccduy Jr. cordon--*" shcarer. T BOOKS AND ACCOUNTING RDCORDS Thc directors responsiblc jutlined are for cnsuring that proler books and accountingrecords, as in Se*ion 202 of thc ComparriesAct, 1990,arc keptby ihe company. I I To achicvethis' the dircctors havc appointed pcrsonnelto ensurethat thosereduirement, arc compliedwith. "pptoph"te Thcsebooks anrl accounting records arc maintainedat 30 Hcrbertstrect, Dublin 2. DIVIDENDS The direcrorsof thc companydo not proposethc pay{cnr ofa dividcndfor the ycar.