Ms Helena Fitzgerald:

I want to address the question on compliance with the European Landscape Convention. It is for the Government to comply with it. When it signed the convention in 2002, it undertook to plan, manage and protect the landscapes of Ireland hand in hand with the communities who inhabit the landscapes. It needs to recognise the landscapes have value. Even the less dramatic landscapes of Ireland have value and the Government needs to recognise this in law. We still do not have a landscape strategy for Ireland 11 and a half years later. This is mind-boggling when one thinks about the stunning landscape of this country and how important it is to our creativity as a nation, to our national identity and to our tourism industry, which is the bedrock of a sustainable economy in rural Ireland.

I do not know whether EirGrid can breach the European Landscape Convention, but the Irish Government's landscape policy has meant that when it gets to An Bord Pleanála, it is on very shaky ground in terms of how the Irish landscape has been treated in the process. I am from south County Carlow. According to the stage one report, in the absence of a landscape designation from Carlow County Council, EirGrid recognised the lack of consistency in landscape mapping as a data challenge. It is a known problem and was also in a Mazars report from 2007 prepared for Fáilte Ireland on this lack of consistency in landscape mapping from local authority to local authority. In addressing this data challenge, EirGrid took it upon itself to make a value judgment on the landscapes in County Carlow. It included the constraint of undesignated landscape, which completely flies in the face of the European Landscape Convention. The community must be involved in identifying landscapes of value. It cannot be done from a desk using a computer programme because landscapes have value on many different levels, such as historical, aesthetic, cultural and amenity. It is only those who inhabit and use the landscapes who can assign this value. In County Carlow's case, the fact EirGrid took it upon itself to assign landscape value without consultation either with the local authority or the local community is a significant shortcoming.

If EirGrid pursues this project in its current form, it will be open to challenge. An Bord Pleanála must refer it to EU legislation. In the absence of an Irish landscape strategy, it is blown wide open. We are galvanising support. We have been raising money locally and if we need to take this to Europe, we will.