Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to go back to the issue of the relationship between the Department and EirGrid. As the Secretary General rightly said, EirGrid is involved in the development of some substantial infrastructure. I note from a previous freedom of information request, secured by the newspaper The Northern Standard, that the relationship seems to be a strange one, in that EirGrid was even consulted and contributed to ministerial responses to parliamentary questions among other issues. A former Secretary General is now the chair of the board of EirGrid. It seems to be a fairly seamless relationship with regard to some of the major infrastructural developments.

One has situations, to which the Secretary General referred, where there can often be community differences, to put it mildly, between EirGrid's stated position and the wishes of the communities affected. I am referring specifically to the North-South interconnector. Has the Department ever analysed the information it receives from EirGrid? For example, has the Department ever analysed, visited or engaged with the ALEGrO interconnector development between Belgium and France? This is undergrounded and is a model sought by many communities. Does the Department, as appears to be the case, take its direction entirely from EirGrid?