Mr. Cian Moloney:

We did not supply a written submission to the committee on this matter and I ask for the understanding of members in that regard. We received a late invitation to attend this meeting on Monday afternoon. We are grateful for that invitation and are happy to be here. We hope the committee will see fit to reconvene on this matter, particularly in light of the serious issues relating to the projects that are being proposed. We would be happy to come before it again at a later date.

The timing of this meeting is significant, given that this is the final week for submissions to be lodged in what has been labelled by EirGrid as a "public consultation phase". What occurred in reality is that the public consultation phase is deeply flawed in that groups throughout the country only learned about the project gradually and were obliged to go about raising awareness in their own communities because EirGrid did not do so. The groups are trying to encourage people to lodge submissions before Tuesday next, 26 November. In the context of a project with a budget of billions of euro and funded by the State, it has fallen to individual citizens to raise their concerns and to appear here and elsewhere in order to seek to have them addressed. We are all working people who are raising families in our own right. It is very unfortunate and should not be the case that it falls to us to have to justify the very real concerns of the people surrounding us who are potentially affected by the project.

What are the concerns of the people? Many of these are well documented and common among citizens throughout the country. The potential health effects of the project are also well documented and have been receiving increasing coverage in the media of late. I will return to the effects on the visual amenity and tourism shortly. First, I must comment on the depreciation in the value of housing and land. There are various estimates available in respect of the level of reduction in the value of land and properties located close to pylons and cables. There is no doubt that depreciation occurs, but the only offer of compensation being proposed is that to the owners of land on which pylons will be erected.