Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

It is of paramount importance and consistent with all the international safety standards we already have in this country that the need for the common good should dominate in this matter. I discussed this with Deputy Enda Kenny during Question Time yesterday. It is time everybody recognised that when we had very little going for us in this country we had rural electrification. People co-operated and ensured that power was brought to every part of every region and that people had a chance to try to move from subsistence living to something decent. We now have a situation where unless a full transmission system is set up in this country, we will put at risk the prospect of economic progress for all those regions. I, for one-----

See this speech in context