Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has said that Eirgrid has put out the tender for the design and testing of the 400 pylons, each carrying 400,000 volts for the North-South Interconnector project. The deadline for submission is 20 October, which is this month. This moves Eirgrid into conflict mode with the people of Meath, Cavan and Monaghan. The Minister knows this full well. It confirms that public acceptance is irrelevant to Eirgrid's strategies and plans, and it puts Eirgrid and the ESB on a clear path towards direct conflict and confrontation with the landowners and communities in the north east. I am sure the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Doherty, has said that to the Minister. She has said it often. What the Government is saying and what the tender confirms is that the feasible and acceptable alternative of undergrounding will never be properly examined by Eirgrid. The provocative placing and timing of the tender is a clear confirmation of its determination on this project and its attitude of unaccountability to democratic process.

How is it that the tender for the 400 pylons includes the 100 pylon towers for Northern Ireland even though the project is still going through the planning process in the North and is awaiting decision?

How is it that the Fianna Fáil motion in February, supported by the majority of the Dáil and Seanad, calling on the Government to ensure that no further work is done on the interconnector until this analysis and a full community consultation has been completed, was blithely ignored by this Minister?

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