Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

The Minister of State is trying to wash her hands of it, like everything else. The Minister should intervene and tell the ESB to put underground these cables. It is as simple as that.

Incidentally, the suggestion that Members were told by Mountjoy Prison that they were obliged to submit anything in writing is not true. The deputy governor, John Quinn, told me he had contacted the Department of Justice and Equality, the matter was being forwarded to that Department's Secretary General and that it would revert to me about our request for a visit. They never got back to us. There were no telephone calls or e-mails or anything. We are getting the run-around because they do not want people to highlight the case of Teresa Treacy, even to the extent of a few public representatives visiting her. The Government should take its responsibility for this matter. It should act by putting pressure on the ESB to get Teresa Treacy out of jail and to get those lines underground.

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