Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)

No one opposes the cable; the issue is that it is being inserted in a heavily populated area, feet away from schools, crèches and houses. The fact that a State organisation seeks and is granted planning permission for a project is neither here nor there. The organisation falls under the Minister's jurisdiction and he can instruct it to seek an alternative planning route that will take it away from densely populated areas. That is all that is being sought.

The Minister did not comment on the safety report that has not been commissioned yet. It is becoming the norm for Eirgrid to not bother waiting for reports to be commissioned, it just ploughs ahead regardless. Ultimately Eirgrid reports to the Minister and it is not good enough.

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