Mr. John O'Connor:

He did for a short period, yes. In answer to the question, that is all I can say about it.

I will move on to Senator Whelan's points. I am disappointed Senator Whelan feels that the consultation was not what it should be, and he had very strong criticisms of it. This is something I will certainly take away with me and which I will consider. I would say to the Senator that, at the end of the day, it is An Bord Pleanála that decides these matters. Whether people go on boards or off boards, or anything like that, there are certain rules in regard to all of these things, including what people do after they finish in the public service and so forth. I have not got any private sector boards or anything like that.

An Bord Pleanála is the ultimate deciding authority. Its process is open and transparent, and fully participative. No matter what the EirGrid consultation may or may not do, everybody has a right to submit an observation to An Bord Pleanála when the application goes in to it. There are procedures for doing that. Furthermore, they have an opportunity to go to the hearing and make their case. Again, we have to bear in mind at all times that there is an independent, quasi-judicial process to deal with these issues which has existed for many years. Overall, while people criticise its decisions from time to time, I believe it has stood the test of time. Going back to my own time there, when people from other jurisdictions come here and look at An Bord Pleanála, they see it as a kind of model for dealing with some of these issues.

The Senator said he was misled but that is all to do with perceptions around the consultation process and the information that was given and so forth.