Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. He referred to the planning processes. Unfortunately, there is currently no Executive in Northern Ireland . A decision on the planning should have been made by the Minister of the Environment in Northern Ireland but, unfortunately, it was left to civil servants to make the decision to grant permission.

There was complete abuse of the planning system in Ireland in regard to this project. All Members and many councillors from counties Cavan, Monaghan and Meath made presentations at the hearing. but An Bord Pleanála did not even refer to our participation in the process, which is a disgrace. An Bord Pleanála allowed EirGrid to bring forward additional material during the course of the hearing, which was utterly wrong.

The Minister very clearly heard at our most recent meeting on the issue that the project will not gain public acceptance if the transmission cables are not underground. He stated that the interconnector is needed for the all-Ireland energy market. If it is needed for our island, EirGrid and the Government should now decide that the transmission cables will be placed underground because the project will not otherwise be able to proceed.

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