Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We discussed this before Christmas. I agreed to that. Obviously, we did not want the debate when the Haass talks were going on. The Tánaiste was there. The Deputy was there himself. That debate will take place in the House before the end of the month. Clearly, this is the first time the parties themselves were involved in running talks after the invitation was extended to Professor O'Sullivan and Dr. Haass. I was disappointed they were not concluded successfully. In so far as Government is concerned, we will work with the parties in any way we can to assist this matter, but clearly it is a case of first priority for the parties concerned that were not able to bring the discussions to a conclusion. That debate will take place in the House here before the end of the month.

In regard to the matter of pylons, I mentioned this before. Clearly, the challenge for the country is to be able to provide a platform for infrastructure for power for delivery for the next 50 years in the same way as the ESB originally did for provincial and urban Ireland since Ardnacrusha was set up. The Minister extended the consultation period until early January. There are now 30,000 submissions sent in. In fairness to everybody, it is important that these be gone through properly and that they be analysed and that people take into account the concerns and anxieties of people who, for a variety of reasons, made their submissions. I expect that the Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, will do that in the next fortnight or three weeks. I expect he will bring a memo to Government from that. This is an issue that obviously concerns a great deal of people. The challenge is finding the best way to provide an opportunity for infrastructure throughout the entire country. The Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, is dealing with this. There are 30,000 submissions. He owes it to those who took the time to send in submissions to see that they are analysed and considered seriously.

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