Ikea superstore may get go-ahead - Minister
Fresh moves to allow Swedish giant Ikea to open a superstore may be given the go-ahead over the next few weeks, a senior minister claimed today.
Environment Minister Dick Roche said if certain problems were tackled the Government may grant special permission for a one-off change to normal planning restrictions over the next three to four weeks.
“I will probably get the go-ahead to take further steps but we have to be absolutely sure that if we do introduce changes they won’t have unforeseen consequences,” the Wicklow TD said. “If there is any probability they would do more damage then good, then we wouldn’t move in that direction.”
The furniture retailer has provisionally planned a 28,000 sq ft superstore for Ballymun in north Dublin, which is being hailed as a major boost for the area.
“The reality of it is that particular store will locate somewhere on this island. We can either have it in the Republic or we can have it in the six counties and those are facts,” Mr Roche said.
“We have to get the balance right because you don’t want to open Pandora’s box and cause damage throughout the whole retail industry.”
The minister said any changes to the planning regulations would be “ring-fenced” to prevent further problems.
Mr Roche said there were certain locations in the country where the store could run without problems.
He said the store needed an area with a large population, a capacity for high levels of traffic and a public transport operation. The minister said the Government had to be careful that any changes to regulations would not have a negative effect on other retailers.
The Government has delayed a decision on relaxing the planning laws due to concerns about the discriminating against other major retailers and the road traffic implications of the plan.
The Environment Minister also stressed that Ireland was lagging far behind Europe in the waste disposal field.
“We have to realise in this country that we have a major, major problem, we have to catch-up because we have not invested anything like enough money in the past,” he told RTE radio.
Mr Roche said that “modern incineration” rather than old-fashioned landfills had to be part of the solution to the rubbish problem. He claimed all of his Cabinet colleagues were behind the moves.
“Simply mass burning everything is not the way, you have to recycle you have to reduce, you have to do all of those positive things,” he added.
