A FINAL decision on whether to allow skyscraper-sized underground gas caverns to be built under the seabed at Larne Lough could come early in the new year.
Tuesday and Wednesday February 6 & 7 have been set aside for the Court of Appeal to listen to further submissions and then rule on whether a subsidiary of Harland & Wolff is granted a marine licence to build the seven underground units at Islandmagee.
In August, a judicial review in the High Court in Belfast, brought by No Gas Caverns and Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland, ruled that former Stormont agriculture minister Edwin Poots was legally entitled to give the go-ahead to grant the licence.
But the campaign groups, who for years have been vociferous opponents of the plan, confirmed they would appeal that ruling.
With the dates now set for what may be the final hearing in the case, Harland & Wolff says it “remains of the firm belief that any appeal will hold no merit given that the judicial review judgment comprehensively rejected the applicant's claims on all five grounds.”
The applicant has now reduced its claims down to two grounds for the purpose of this appeal - namely the failure to refer the applications to the Executive Committee; and the taking into account of an irrelevant consideration, namely the community fund.
H&W said that in the meantime, the appeals process “will not impede or obstruct ongoing conversations being held with several counter-parties in relation to the most optimum pathway to monetise the project”, and the company says it continues to make progress as planned.
James Orr, regional director of Friends of the Earth, said: “We continue to stand with the residents of Islandmagee to protect this beautiful part of Northern Ireland.
“It is our continued belief that the destruction caused by this mining is landscape trauma. The gas caverns project is not needed, not welcome and, in our view, unlawful.
“Let’s be in no doubt that we will not be held to ransom to the fossil fuel companies behind this project. They are on the wrong side of history if they think they can drive through new fossil fuel infrastructure in a climate emergency.”
