Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The people of Meath are not happy, as EirGrid has heard. I went to Gibbstown yesterday. There is deep anger there about putting pylons on historic ground such as the site of the Tailteann Games.

What is the distance pylons have to be from the habitat of the whooper swan, which is of international importance, and of the golden plover, which is very important in the Blackwater Valley? How far does a pylon have to be from a proposed wind turbine? I have been told that there is an agreement between EirGrid and Element Power that there must be a specific distance between the two. What does the distance have to be between a person’s home and a pylon? I understand it has to be 400 m between a whooper swan’s habitat and a pylon and that between a pylon and an Element wind turbine it has to be 800 m, and 50 m from a person’s home. I regard the whooper swan habitat as extremely important and I do not want EirGrid to destroy it but can the witnesses explain the logic of setting a 400 m distance from a whooper swan’s home but only 50 m from a person’s home in the same area of County Meath?

It does not make sense to people. I will come back with more questions.