Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak to this important issue and I thank the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, not only for coming here but for listening to us at the meeting of the Joint Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources last Tuesday.

Few issues apart from the Monaghan General Hospital matter have caused as much anger and annoyance as the proposed new power line to come across Meath, Cavan and Monaghan. It is vital we get an answer tonight on whether the Government or EirGrid will pay for a totally independent person or company to give us a true indication of whether it is possible to place this power line underground, and if it is, at what cost. The Tánaiste and Minister for Finance has already suggested it would cost at least ten times as much to place the line underground as it would overground. Others have used even wilder figures. It is interesting that the local Minister in County Meath, Deputy Noel Dempsey, has stated that the line must go underground and should be put along the M3 motorway. If ever there was a clear indication of the lack of Cabinet cohesion or joined-up thinking, that is surely it.

Why could this line not have gone either along the coast or through County Louth, where the land would be much more flat and less difficult to deal with? One must question where the responsibility lies. Does it lie with the Minister for Communications, Energy and National Resources, the board of EirGrid or both? One cannot forget the board of EirGrid was mostly appointed by the then Minister responsible for this area, Deputy Noel Dempsey.

People are clearly worried for many reasons, with health of major importance. There are so many so-called experts in this field that is difficult to know the facts. The land over which the line would go, and that adjacent to the line, would clearly be frozen and be beyond consideration for industrial and private premises. The property of some people will not even be eligible for compensation if EirGrid uses its significant financial backing to try to buy out individuals.

I beg the Minister either to agree to fund an independent study himself or ensure EirGrid does so immediately. This is clearly the first of many proposed lines by EirGrid throughout the island of Ireland and if we can get this one right, with a realistic and common sense approach, it will ease the way for all other projects to be moved forward. This is important for the sake of better power structures.

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