Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The downside risk that the ESB and others saw was that it might not be the case with all landowners. Any time one tries to do anything in Ireland, getting access to land can be problematic. Even though it would not take more than an hour or two to run a cable across a field, access could be an issue. What if we had tackled that issue and had got agreement from rural Ireland on it because this project will be so beneficial to rural Ireland? If we had tried to get people to co-operate in order to ensure that the ESB has no difficulty in getting across fields, would that have made a material difference? Am I right in my assessment that land access was probably the biggest challenge for the ESB? I am thinking of the scenario in John B. Keane's play, "The Field", and the notion that no-one can cross a person's land. Was that the biggest problem in terms of amalgamating the network so that there is a single set of poles? As Deputy Stanley pointed out, the ESB poles are probably in far better condition than the Eir poles. What stopped us using the ESB network as the preferred route?