Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is important we examine this issue in a comprehensive and analytical way. I was slightly surprised by the tone of Deputy Anne Ferris’s contribution which was more vitriol about Fianna Fáil rather than solving a difficult conundrum, one that is constantly moving forward. We often find that people oppose infrastructure projects that are badly needed for the greater good of society. We cannot always go with those who oppose the provision of infrastructure that discommodes them personally if the greater good of society is served. I recall a Fine Gael colleague of the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, putting it succinctly at a meeting I attended when he said we all want the waste collected but no one wants a dump near them, we all want mobile phones but no one wants a telecommunications mast near them. It is fair to say we all want electricity but we do not want the power lines that are attached.

Some of the power lines are being developed to facilitate wind farms. The north-south interconnector is creating the kind of grid we would have had if this island had never been partitioned. As there was a large generating plant in the North, it made a whole lot of sense that all generation plants on the island were available to the whole gird on the island.

The idea that the Government has eliminated wind farms totally and that there would be no new 440 kVA lines going up is fallacious, as far as I understand, and there will be a need for that type of line. I accept that Deputy Ferris has a point and that we need to look at the situation regarding wind farms and the export of energy. The second thing we need to look at is the required set back for wind farms from dwelling houses. When the 500 m limit was set, the height of wind farms was a lot lower than it is today. Therefore, a parallel debate is needed on the wind farm issue. Until that debate takes place, we will not get buy-in from the public on the various issues involved.

Is it right to have an upgrade of the grid? I believe we need to have a world class grid, and so I do not go along with the people who say that we should not future proof the kind of provision of electricity that we have. How often in the past have we complained that previous generations did not provide the basic infrastructure of roads, electricity, telecommunications and so on for a modern state? We must face up to the fact that we will have to put in high tension lines. The question then arises that if we have to put them in and if the basic plan is right, subject to looking at the wind farms, should these lines be totally overground, totally underground or a mixture of both? We know that the requirement to put them totally overground is a non-runner, because there are many 440 kVA lines that run underground, and the interconnector between Ireland and Britain runs underground. When there was an issue in the Cork Harbour area, lines were put underground because it was decided that they would be visually intrusive.

We have to make a decision on three grounds as to whether we go for the overground or underground option. The first issue is whether there is a health issue or not. The second issue is whether people are comfortable that there is not a health issue, because perhaps there is not a health issue. I remember a report was done on the telecommunications industry which stated that a particular mast affected people's health, not because of the mast in itself, but because it created fear and that had an effect on people's health. That those effects were there was accepted, even if they were not adduced by the radiation from the mast. The third issue is visual. Again, I differ from the point made by Deputy Ann Ferris because I think she was being a little bit simplistic. She asked why it was going near the mountains and near the low populated areas of County Wicklow and County Carlow. She tried to go into the big conspiracy theory that it is some wind farm that the Minister is contemplating.

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