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

I have previously outlined to this Minister and his predecessors the absolute opposition of communities in Meath, Monaghan and Cavan to the proposed North-South interconnector. Those views are shared in the affected areas north of the Border too. Eirgrid has not listened to the views of those communities and neither has the Department, nor the Minister's predecessors. A clear message from the communities North and South is that if this project is to proceed it needs to have buy-in from communities and local landowners. If the project is to go ahead those transmission cables need to be put underground as happens with other major projects throughout Europe. The Minister is aware that some overground transmission cables in other parts of Europe are being put underground.

See this speech in context