Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

Yes. For the Deputy's information, I travelled to Denmark earlier this year, where I met the engineers responsible for the development of that country's transmission line. They had every interest in putting their 400 kV lines, which are similar to ours, underground. They desperately wanted to construct the interconnector because they are to Denmark's economic advantage in terms of the trade in energy between the north pool and the German markets. Similar planning concerns arose in regard to whether the lines should be installed underground or over ground. The engineers were pulling their hair out because they said, in an honest way, that it was not technically feasible to put them underground. This response is similar to the findings of the independent report commissioned by my Department. Deputy Coveney heard in committee from a professor of electronic engineering in UCD who is an independent expert and has no vested interest in the matter but who gave exactly the same answer. Transmission systems of this type and over this distance cannot be built underground.

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