Mr. Brendan Tuohy:

I will quickly go through the other ones.

On the transmission lines on the shore, the last report done that was commissioned by the Government was approximately a year and a half ago; it was an independent report on the North-South interconnector that members would be familiar with. In summary, it stated that the overhead lines were still the most suitable approach. I am not an expert in this area but I read the report; it was the top experts who said that. On the underground versus overground, that is the latest one. More generally, on the underground versus overground issue, overground is easier. First, it is cheaper. Second, it is easier to maintain. Third, when one goes underground, if one has faults, one must dig them up, etc. The advice from the experts refers not only to cost. It is very much about its operation. All we can do on this is bring in the best experts and see what they say.

Community engagement is a big element to which I am committed. I have been involved in the Dingle Peninsula project for the past two years where we have tried to imagine what the Dingle Peninsula would look like in the future. We have been working closely with ESB Networks, with the local community and with the local development agency, North, East and West Kerry Development, NEWKD. What is interesting is the importance of community engagement. For instance, ESB Networks is involved with five ambassadors, including individual houses. Also, we have a project just starting with six ambassador farms to look at what farming needs to do to change - that is 35% of the problem. On that, the idea of involving and engaging the community is not about visiting and telling them what we will do. It is about visiting, listening and engaging. There are 20 batteries installed in Ballyferriter. With that, three have solar PV and others are purchasing their own solar PV. What is happening there is changing the way we deal with energy. When we talk about activating the energy citizen, people are basically smart if one gives them the opportunity. On community engagement, I suppose my message is that we all must engage in a much more collective way. I deal with some of the academics in Marine and Renewable Energy Ireland, MaREI, and they would totally support the assertion that it is about community engagement. I am an engineer by background. Engineers have certain solutions but these are not always the best solutions.

On the visual amenity issue, when one is putting in any type of infrastructure there is a visual impact but we have the planning process to deal with these issues. The original design of the national system with which the Deputy will be familiar was, out of Moneypoint, two big 400 kV lines coming up through the country serving north and south of Dublin, and then the ring around it. These are the backbone of the network. Now we are seeing the changes happening. For example, Moneypoint will close, we are told, by 2025. We saw the changes in the midlands recently as well. This is really happening. The challenge we have is whether we do something to the network. However, we will still need poles and some sort of infrastructure but that must be done in as neat a way as possible with community engagement.

Finally, on providing people with an incentive, the Deputy talked about the transition. I have an empathy with communities where the infrastructure is passing through to service something else. That is different from where people embrace it and use it themselves. Collectively, we must look at how we can make sure that we can support these communities so that they benefit from it, not in a one-off but in a long-term way. In my experience, most communities want to be living communities. They want people to come and live there. I spoke of the Dingle Peninsula. In 1840, there were 40,000 people on the Dingle Peninsula. In 1850, there were 30,000 people. Ten years ago, there were 16,000. Today, there are 12,500. It may be a bit more stark, but that is a reflection of the movement from the rural to the urban areas. We will not stop that but what we need, what parents tell me they want for their children, and what the young people say, is that children will at least have the ability to come back and live there if they so choose. They know all the children will not come back and live there, but they want the choice.