Mr. Fintan Slye:

That is all right and I am happy to engage with members outside in the hallway, if necessary. On the issue of consultation regarding the North-South project, we have gone back out and have sought to consult people. We examined the study area and went through all those processes over a recent period in this regard. We believe we have gone through this with the people in the area and perhaps we can have a discussion in detail about this outside this room. It was suggested that a costing of proceeding underground was never undertaken. EirGrid carried out a detailed costing, which we commissioned from PB Power. We published it and updated it recently. In addition, the independent commission provided a cost of going underground for the North-South project. This information has been published and is available. Moreover, as was stated earlier, it will form part of EirGrid's planning application.

There was a question from Deputy Timmins about how much of the Grid Link project can be placed underground. If we use AC grid technology, we can place short stretches of it underground but one is talking about distances of approximately 10 km. However, as the Deputy pointed out, this is a 260 km project and consequently, to place it all underground, one must insert a different technology, which is high voltage direct current, HVDC, technology. While partial undergrounding is possible and while EirGrid does and will continue to consider it, it is relatively limited, particularly in a project of the scale referred to by the Deputy, and EirGrid is being upfront about that. The Deputy spoke about the assessment of the undergrounding option and I reiterate we are conscious this is one of the themes coming through in respect of both the Grid Link and Grid West projects, namely, that such analysis of undergrounding, which was done in respect of the North-South project, must be done.

The Deputy referred to the motion tabled by the Minister in the Dáil last night about providing impartial analysis of engineering solutions. We must reflect on that, as well as on the feedback we get as part of the Grid Link process. Once such consultation has closed, we must revert and articulate to both the joint committee and the communities affected how we intend to respond to that. We are acutely conscious of the desire to have this additional information and to have it presented in a manner that is objective, fair, balanced and transparent. There was a question about an underground route and, as I might have mentioned earlier, the route one would use for an overhead corridor is not necessarily the one that is appropriate for an underground route. In our assessing of undergrounding for the North-South project, we considered a specific route for the undergrounding in that regard, which did not necessarily always follow the overhead route.