Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I wish to apologise on behalf of my constituency colleague, Deputy Conlon, who had hoped to be present. Unfortunately, she cannot attend due to illness. She had intended to share time.

Last night, I attended a meeting of North East Pylon Pressure, NEPP, in Monaghan. Much anger and concern was expressed at the fact that EirGrid needed to withdraw its application from An Bord Pleanála on the 22nd day of the hearing because of errors in the public notices, something that should not have occurred. The concern was at the prospect of needing to go through the whole procedure again, given the amount of time and expense involved, particularly on the part of members of the public with legitimate interests in this development. Those at last night's meeting were anxious that Oireachtas Members would draw the Minister's attention to section 182 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 and that the Act would be amended to ensure provision for legitimate expenses for members of the public with an interest who wish to give evidence.

Will the Minister consider the strategic planning Act, given its apparent defect? An Bord Pleanála does not need to validate applications, which local authorities must do when they receive applications for planning permission. It is important that this matter be examined. If An Bord Pleanála was obliged to validate an application, we would not be in a situation in which an application was withdrawn after a 22-day hearing.

A great deal of time will pass before we get back to the point at which we left off last week at the hearing. I hope that, during this time, everyone concerned will examine the rapidly developing technology to determine whether it is technically feasible and economically viable that the cable would be placed underground, as requested by me and my Fianna Fáil colleagues in counties Cavan, Meath and Monaghan in our submission to An Bord Pleanála.

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