Mr. John McCusker:

The consultation process was very narrow in County Waterford. The publication and advertisement of the process were even narrower. That has been brought to the attention of EirGrid but it has refused to acknowledge it. The first two phases of consultation were not advertised in the Dungarvan area. That was clearly a breach of the Aarhus Convention. When that was brought to the attention of EirGrid, it blatantly ignored it.

County Waterford is a very narrow county and it has two major power lines going through it. This would be a third one, yet EirGrid did not see fit to put a public office in the county of Waterford. It proposed to put a major 400 kV line through the heart of the county stretching the length and breadth of Waterford. Why, for example, were there no national television advertisements? Saorview was one of the major aspects of change in this nation last year and it was advertised widely on television. There was not one television advertisement on Grid Link. There were no publications on phases one and two, no television advertisements, no public office in the county of Waterford and no advice in response from EirGrid. Last week, EirGrid went to Waterford County Council and asked if it could open up a public office in its premises. How could that be right?