Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to raise this issue. Like Deputy Fleming I attended a meeting in Ratheniska a week ago last Thursday. It is a small community but there was a large attendance at the meeting as people are very concerned.

The approach taken by EirGrid provides a good template for how not to proceed successfully with an infrastructural project. It has lost the confidence and trust of the community. People do not believe what they are being told about the project. The request by the local community to meet EirGrid to discuss the project has been refused. EirGrid's management of the planning process has been fast and loose. Last year, the company acted outside the terms of the planning process and had to be reined in.

No clarity has been available on the necessity for the Laois-Kilkenny reinforcement project. The Minister received a letter from the Oireachtas committee seeking information on what assessments were carried out on the need for the project, which will cost more than €100 million. There has been no transparency from EirGrid. This is a dreadful situation. There are major concerns about the aquifer and the issue must be addressed. What assessments have been carried out in regard to it?

The issue goes beyond the townland of Ratheniska and nearby Timahoe or Coolnabacca, it concerns the centre of Laois. The aquifer serves between 8,000 and 10,000 people and we have major concerns about it. The EirGrid station is on top of the aquifer. A person who attended a pre-planning meeting to discuss building a small house in an adjacent area was told by the local authority not to bother applying because the application would probably be refused. That is the position, rightly or wrongly, yet EirGrid plans to build directly on top of the aquifer. The project is expected to cost €110 million. Where is the cost-benefit analysis?

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