Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)

This Government, in fairness, is great at documents and plans but very poor on delivery. The Minister spent most of his time acknowledging the work of the ESB, which has done tremendous work, but I want to know how many meters have been cleared. For example, there are thousands of kilometres of ESB lines where trees are growing up through those lines. There are guidelines that state the lines should be 10 m minimum away from the felling line of the tree. That is not being met, and my understanding from speaking to the ESB is that these are guidelines and there is no obligation regarding them. I want to know, how many meters have been reduced? Where are we now? We are six months away from Christmas. Last week, Hollymount, Taugheen and Foxford in County Mayo lost power because of a relatively small summer breeze and we need to ensure this is tackled.

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