Ms Mary Marron:

Deputy Conlan asked about landowners and consultation. In June 2009, our landowners were presented with maps from EirGrid showing what would be done on their farms, where the line would run and where the pylons would be placed. This was the first most of them had heard or seen about the process. They met, and 115 of the 128 landowners decided they would only engage with EirGrid through a solicitor. They put their hands in their pockets and engaged a solicitor. It was unprecedented that such a group of people would have gone this way about it, and the reason was that there was no consultation. We all know the definitions. There still has not been any meaningful consultation. Nothing has changed.

Several weeks ago through the project of common interest, PCI, process the summary of individual land parcel impacts was published on the Bord Pleanála website. It shows what EirGrid proposes to do on each landholding, how it proposes to do it, where it proposes to access property and how long it will take. Again, there was no consultation and nobody was made aware of it. It has never asked whether it can walk property or do anything. We are just told what it will do and people have no say. EirGrid has lost any credibility it had with the landowners. The landowners will only engage with it through a solicitor but this has not happened. In two instances landowners had specific problems and the solicitors spoke to EirGrid, but halfway through the process everything stopped.

Rearranged maps landed out again so nothing changed. The landowners are absolutely resolute that this project will not be going ahead in its current form.