Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I never associated Deputy Wallace with the kind of cynical disposition that would suggest as he did that I might in any way be motivated by impending elections. I am afraid it misunderstands the very nature of energy projects. If the initiative that I announced yesterday had never happened, it was the intention of EirGrid to lodge the planning application in 2016. That date will now inevitably be pushed back six months, a year or whatever. I do not know. Before yesterday's announcement, EirGrid's intention was to proceed full steam ahead and have the planning application ready to be lodged in 2016. Asking me, as I have been asked elsewhere, about local elections has nothing to do with this. Energy projects are long-term and that was what I was referring to when I said it could not be decided on the whim of a passing fashion after I was asked a question like the one the Deputy just asked me about local elections. This is a long-term decision that must be made in what is considered to be in the best interests of the public. That is the time-span that was envisaged. I know the phrase has been misrepresented but I have lived with that kind of thing for a long time.

There is no doubt in my mind that we have complied in every way with the principles of public participation set out in the Aarhus Convention. It is not the formal consultative arrangements that are at issue here. It is criticism by both sides of this House of the quality of the engagement. Nobody criticises the fact that there was a prolonged consultation period. There were dozens of days of public consultation and offices were opened in different parts of the country. The criticisms that have come back to me are about the quality of the engagement. It is that which the new chairman of EirGrid, John O'Connor, is being asked to assess in the package of measures announced yesterday. He is being asked to deal with the question about the quality of engagement in the future. There are no defects in the formal consultation procedures but if every side of this House criticises the nature of the engagement and queries whether the engineers are listening, I must have regard to that. People's concerns in that regard must be responded to.

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