Ms Emma Kennedy:

I have been very open about the fact that I first heard about this project because of a family connection. My husband originally came from Nenagh, County Tipperary and his family have a farm in the area. I originally heard about the project because the proposed pipeline would cross his family's farm. When I first heard about the project I heard about it in the same breath of being told. My first response was they are looking at pumping water to Dublin but how can Dublin possibly need water in response to which I was told that Dublin has a leakage rate of 57% and a proposal to pipe water is being considered. All of that piqued my interest. I am very technically minded. I was a lawyer and my background is in technical forensic analysis. Instinctively, I downloaded the reports and read them. As I read each page red flags flew up everywhere. For example, a summary of a report would fail to accurately reflect the contents and I became interested. From a very early stage I became engaged with different groups who were also fighting the proposal for their own valid reasons, including the River Shannon Protection Alliance, Fight The Pipe Ireland, etc. There are many organisations fighting the proposal for their own reasons. That is how I first heard about the matter and I have been completely upfront about it. I hope that there is no implication that my potential conflict, if one wishes to call it that, detracts from the value of the work that we have produced.