Anne Ferris (Wicklow, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have deep concerns about the Grid Link line of pylons from County Cork to County Kildare. A new assessment of this aspect of the Grid25 project would be beneficial. However, a more fundamental assessment is needed than the “health and visual concerns” report that Fianna Fáil is seeking. I will return to the issue of the type of report needed. Today Fianna Fáil is asking for the wrong report and we must ask ourselves why that might be. A clue might be that two of the signatories to the motion - Deputies Michael Moynihan and Barry Cowan - are already on record as being strong supporters of wind generation projects for the export of energy supplies. There is, undoubtedly, a need for wind power to meet our national renewable energy targets but to spend a fortune on upgrading parts of the national grid for the primary purpose of exporting wind power supplies is another story. I will return to that issue. Fianna Fáil knows full well it is not possible to produce any kind of visual report on pylon routes that have not yet been identified unless the international consultants are the type that normally work with the assistance of a crystal ball in a tent at the Galway races.

EirGrid's plans are to proceed all the way to consultation with An Bord Pleanála without revealing the specific route of the pylons. This is very wrong, but it will not be corrected by the strangely worded motion Fianna Fáil has put before us today. It is kicking the can down the road and not doing so in the interests of anyone's health.

The pylon route that concerns me most is the D2 corridor which, for some reason known only to EirGrid, sweeps through an area of undeveloped natural farmland with high tourism potential in east Carlow and west Wicklow. It is miles away from the centres of industrial growth mentioned by the Minister yesterday. This corridor happens to run through an area designated by Wicklow County Council as being more suitable for future wind farm development than elsewhere in the county.

We must go to EirGrid's own project reports to see the link between the Grid Link part of the Grid25 project and the exportation of wind power. Page 9 of the lead consultant's stage 1 report of September 2013 states the drivers that mostly influence future or proposed network capacity are integration and future interconnection along the south-east coast of Ireland with either Great Britain or France. There it is in black and white. EirGrid's vision for the Grid Link piece of this project is not primarily about upgrading the national grid for national needs; rather, it is about upgrading the national grid for the export of power supplies. The Minister does not share this vision and has stressed the importance of improvements to the national grid in terms of EirGrid's obligations as a supplier of energy to Irish homes and businesses, not in terms of a subsidy for wind energy exportation. I can understand why. The exportation idea is losing appeal. Not only does Britain have two other interconnectors, to France and Belgium, it is planning three more to mainland Europe, in addition to a new nuclear power plant and a major increase in its number of wind farms. I cannot seem to pick up a newspaper these days without reading the views of eminent economist Colm McCarthy who points to the availability of Scotland as a much less costly source of wind power for Britain than Ireland.

I would welcome an up-to-date, fully costed assessment of the overall need for the Grid Link project at the scale proposed or at any scale at all.

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