Mr. Cian Moloney:

Deputy McEntee spoke about public representatives failing us. In our area we understand that local authority members were consulted by EirGrid and had meetings. They did not see fit to inform the public in a similar fashion to EirGrid. It was only when we raised the issue and called public meetings, which some of the local representatives were happy to attend, that it emerged that they had had meetings with EirGrid. Only then did we realise that. There is an onus on members present collectively and individually to represent the people who elected them. We call on them to do that. There is a significant disparity in weighting between the groups here in terms of the finance and the weight behind EirGrid promoting its agenda and the community groups on the other side. We need the committee's help on that.

Deputy McEntee spoke about the cost difference between €2.2 million and €2 million per kilometre. They do not take any regard of the other effects on the community regarding tourism, devaluation and so forth. If they are included in a full cost-benefit analysis, then the benefits of undergrounding will be shown to be much greater.