Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry I could not be here earlier today. I know nobody who wants to have pylons. Everybody wants the power, but everybody wants to put it underground. That appears to be the very strong message from the public. There are different groups at different levels on this. When it was a problem in Meath and Monaghan it was something I followed loosely but it did not tax me. When it does not land on one's doorstep, one does not have a motive to get as involved as when it does land on one's doorstep. Likewise, there is no group here from Galway or Kerry, because it is not going through those areas. There is something fundamentally wrong when communities are forced to get out and fund-raise to go into conflict with a semi-State body, EirGrid, that is supposed to operate for the common good in the interests of the people and was established to assist the economy.

With respect to the issue of consultation, information was given out on this over a year ago. It was sent out in packs. I can only talk about the south east, with regard to the line from Kilcullen to Wexford and across to Cork. A study area was identified. One does not pay that much attention to this until lines appear in a map and one can see exactly what is happening. I am not here to defend EirGrid but with regard to the consultation, and many people say there has been no consultation, I found in the last few months when I have been involved with this that EirGrid has gone to the public and there is consultation. There are offices in Kilcullen and Carlow. As I have seen time and again in the case of development plans, no matter what information one sends out with the best will in the world, there will be people who will miss it. Some will not see it, regardless of how close something is to them. I heard somebody say in an interview earlier this morning that letters had been sent to people in the west of Ireland, but some of them did not reach the people. As far as I know, no letters were sent in the south east. Am I correct about that? It was advertised in newspapers and so forth.

That said, there is something flawed in the consultation on this. When communities deal with county development plans, the body is guided by national policy. Really, the consultation is about the fact that people want it to be put underground, yet EirGrid will say that it will not put it underground. There is a deep flaw there. While I am one of the people who would say there is consultation, in many respects it is meaningless because the issues being raised time and again by the community will not ultimately be taken on board. There is a flaw and that is something that must be addressed at national policy level. There is legislation promised to put EirGrid on a statutory footing. It is due to be published at the end of this year or early next year. I am strongly of the view that a decision should not be made on the routes until that legislation is dealt with. Let us see if we are willing to pay the extra cost. Some argue there is no cost differentiation, but it appears to me that there is. Let us debate and see if we are willing to pay the extra required to put it underground.

I note from chapter ten in the Stage 1 report that health was one of the issues taken into consideration in the evaluation process. There is conflicting evidence on that. However, leave aside the health issue. Purely from an aesthetic perspective, the impact on communities and the visual impact are quite horrific. I never saw as many pylons as I have seen in the last couple of months, when I was looking out for them travelling along the N11. However, to take the simple example of when the M9 was being constructed from Kilcullen to Waterford, when a route was identified and there was a sterilised area, I cannot understand why the underground cables or actual pylons or whatever system was being put in place was not part of that. I do not believe for a moment that EirGrid or the ESB was not aware of the necessity to upgrade the grid, given that it was upgraded from the west to the east 20 years ago. It must have been aware of it.

In conclusion, I have a question for the Carlow group. An environmental consultancy group called CAAS gave a presentation to Carlow County Council. Who is that, who employed it and what was its remit?