Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Fine Gael seeks to construct the North-South interconnector overground imminently. The purpose of the interconnector is to link the electricity markets in the North. We, in Sinn Féin, support an interconnector and an all-Ireland energy market but we only support it if it goes underground. The pigheaded will to proceed with this interconnector overground has delayed the construction by years. As it is currently designed, that is overground, it will never be built, and the people along the curtilage of the proposed interconnector are immovable with regard to its construction. In EirGrid's own words, it costs €30 million every year this project is delayed and if the two Ministers opposite do not stop this process, they are leading the people of Meath into an intractable dispute with no prospect of ending. I support this Bill but I am disappointed that Fianna Fáil did not go as far as seeking an undergrounding of this piece of infrastructure. I understand Fianna Fáil supports the undergrounding of this interconnector and Sinn Féin does, as do some Independents in the House. We should have used our mandate to create a Bill to underground it and put an end to the whole process. This motion falls short of the key democratic mandate we all have to underground this. Last January, I tabled a Bill to underground the interconnector but it has been superseded by the planning process. My colleague, Deputy Ó Caoláin, and I made efforts to get cross-party support for the Bill and many Fianna Fáil Deputies attended with goodwill. When the motion was published it reduced the mandate to one of simply carrying out research.

I am desperately disappointed with the amendment of Fine Gael and the Independents. It makes a wishy-washy document of the original motion. One can have bucketloads of cognisance but it does not add up to a hill of beans. There can be a massive amount of goodwill and listen to people, but unless the key decision is made, the necessary action will not happen. The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Naughten, is an experienced Deputy and he knows how to dress up a motion to sound like one thing but will fail the core objective of the people of County Meath.

We are talking about the construction of hundreds of pylons, some up to 51 metres in height, carrying 400,000 volts through Meath, Cavan and Monaghan. Some of them will be at a distance of some 20 metres from people's homes so there are significant worries about threats to health, especially with cancers and leukaemia in children. There are real fears as regards damage to the value of homes and businesses and to the tourism, agriculture and bloodstock industries, which will be significantly affected in County Meath. The technology the Government is seeking to build is being superseded with new technology that can do the same job. The cost of undergrounding is falling all the time. I suggest the Ministers across the floor join me and contact Siemens, who are carrying out this work, in a preliminary effort to compare the costs of the projects. It should not be without the bounds of the Government to say it will not just take cognisance of an independent international analysis but will promise, on the basis of that analysis, it will follow through with a real decision to underground the line once and for all.

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