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

I anticipate some interesting discussions at the Cabinet table when the Minister presents those reports because his colleague, the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Regina Doherty, stated some time ago that one would expect civil disobedience if the project were to proceed on the basis of the transmission cables being overground.

I was very surprised that the Minister, Deputy Naughten, allowed the procurement process to continue while the projects are the subject of proceedings in the Irish Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland. Why was the procurement process allowed to continue while the project is the subject of those court proceedings? We know that decisions cannot be made on major infrastructural projects North of the Border because of the governance situation in Northern Ireland.

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