Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There is now the winter resilience programme, which is gearing up to make sure we do not finish up in situations like those the people of Brosna had to endure, which were horrible and beyond belief. They were trapped in their homes with no power, no heat and no anything. The winter resilience programme will come forward with outcomes as to what the passage should be. That will be my responsibility. As the Deputy and other members will be acutely aware, we want to ensure that the power lines are protected but also that the people who own the land and the trees growing there will be compensated adequately for their present and future loss due to the fact the corridor will be widened.

It comes back to what Deputy Aird asked earlier, that is, if you sign up for something, can you get in or out of it? If we think about it, a person planted forestry and was told the corridor was going to be that wide. If we are now going to tell them the corridor will have to be that much wider, that will be good for protecting the wires but we are devaluing the farmer’s land, so we have to compensate the farmer. The one thing I want to assure the Deputy of is that this will be my responsibility and I will take that responsibility very seriously.