Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This issue is causing major concerns in County Laois, which is my own constituency. We in Sinn Féin handed a submission today to EirGrid on this issue. We are very concerned about it. We see the need to upgrade infrastructure and we do not have an objection in principle, but there has been very little consultation about it. We are very concerned about the huge pylons planned, which are over 45 m in height, or almost 150 ft. We cannot ignore the communities along the route. The Minister said that he does not have any great problems with these pylons, but we cannot ignore the communities who live along these routes. There is a fantastic landscape in County Laois along the proposed route through Rossmore, Crettyard Killeshin and Ballylinan, with houses and farmland dispersed right across it. We must try to protect that. People in Laois are concerned about the impact on farming, landscape, hedgerows, the visual impact and particularly the impact on tourism, which the county council and local community groups are trying to promote in the south east of the county, the impact on architecture and the potential health impacts, along with the devaluation.

Putting these wires underground for much of the route has to be a real option. We all agree that it will cost more initially, but we must look at the long-term benefits of this. It lasts longer, it has longer life span, it reduces the loss of power through transmission, there is less disturbance of the cable, it is not affected by severe weather, there is lower maintenance and less environmental and visual damage. Let us look at the long-term factors and if we have learned anything recently, it is that we should not always go for short term solutions. Let us look at this over a 30 or 40 year period and the long-term benefits of putting this underground where possible. I accept that it may not be possible everywhere, but there are areas where it is possible.

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