Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)
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3. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will provide an update on the work of the expert panel appointed to review the Grid Link routes, with specific reference to the undergrounding of cables; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31679/14]

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)
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I congratulate the Minister and Minister of State on their appointments and wish them well for the future. The proposal to construct monster pylons 45 m high - ten times the height of an average bungalow - throughout the country to carry high-voltage power lines has given rise to significant concern among members of the public. When the process for submissions in respect of these closed on 8 January last, some 35,000 had been received. This provides an indication of the concern which exists. It is for this reason I have asked the Minister to provide an update on the work of the expert panel appointed to review the Grid Link routes, with specific reference to the undergrounding of cables.

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The independent expert panel considering EirGrid’s Grid West and Grid Link projects has held six meetings. The panel was asked to oversee the integrity of a process to be undertaken by EirGrid to report on the Grid West and Grid Link projects. That process is now under way and the panel expects to be in a position to provide an opinion to me on the Grid West project in January 2015 and on the Grid Link project by August 2015. The panel also agreed to provide an opinion to my predecessor on the compatibility of the methodologies to be employed on the Grid West and Grid Link projects with what has already been done in respect of the North-South project. Having considered multiple reports and discussed the matter at several meetings, on 1 July 2014, the panel advised it was unanimously of the opinion that, in all material respects, what has already been done on the North-South project is compatible with the methodologies now being employed on the Grid West and Grid Link projects. While the panel acknowledged that no two grid infrastructure projects are identical, and that some non-comparabilities were likely to arise when assessing the potential environmental impacts, technical efficacy and cost factors, it was of the opinion that no material differences in the methodologies arose.

The panel also noted that the North-South project is part of an ongoing process which it expects will be subjected to a rigorous assessment as part of the planning processes in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Those planning processes allow all concerned parties, including potential objectors to the North-South project, to register their objections and to have them considered by the planning authorities. Having provided this opinion to the previous Minister earlier this month, the panel has completed its consideration of the North-South project.

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)
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The Minister stated that the independent expert panel is examining this matter. Many people throughout the country are concerned about the actual independence of the panel. That concern arises for two reasons in particular. In the first instance, the panel is being advised and provided with technical, financial and engineering information by EirGrid. There is a significant lack of confidence regarding the latter being in a position to provide independent advice and expertise to the panel. The process of consultation used by EirGrid up to now has been flawed. A further difficulty arises in that the panel will be making recommendations to the Minister, Deputy White. His predecessor made it quite clear that he was wedded to the option of using overhead pylons. Will the Minister confirm that he has an open mind, that he is not wedded to the latter option and that he is prepared to consider the undergrounding of cables?

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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One of the key concerns arising from the public consultation process on Grid25 was the extent to which undergrounding options had been explored to allow ready comparison to be made in respect of overhead line solutions for individual projects. That is why EirGrid was asked to conduct a comprehensive analysis of what would be involved in undergrounding the high-voltage cables for the Grid West and Grid Link projects. As already outlined, the independent expert panel was put in place by my predecessor.

To the extent that there is any concern or lack of confidence about the process or its independence, the composition of this independent expert panel and the expertise of its members should allay any such concern or lack of confidence. Mrs. Justice Catherine McGuinness, a retired Supreme Court judge, is chairing the expert panel. The other members are the economists Mr. John FitzGerald and Mr. Colm McCarthy, engineering professor Keith Bell of the University of Strathclyde and Dr. Karen Foley, head of the school of landscape architecture in UCD. They are entirely independent persons who will do a good job and provide their report to me. I will await that report before making any further comment.

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)
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Membership of the panel is not the issue I raised. The issue is that this panel will be making recommendations to the Minister. The previous Minister made it quite clear that he was completely wedded to pylons and I am asking the current Minister to confirm that he at least has an open mind on this issue and that he is prepared to consider seriously, and to construct if that be the case, the undergrounding of these cables. Can he give confirmation of that?

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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These are complex processes involving the assessment of evidence, particularly relating to planning. The Deputy knows the planning process is set out quite clearly in statute and is not a matter of the opinion of any individual Minister or otherwise on it. The job I must do is to uphold the integrity of that process, and I intend to do that. The independent expert panel will enhance the integrity of the process. The panel's job is to provide an opinion to me on the objectivity, comparability and completeness of the studies that have been done. Are the methodologies up to scratch and fit for purpose? Are they right and are they in accordance with what one would expect in terms of proper assessment and evaluation of these projects? That is what the independent expert panel is doing. It is not making ultimate decisions on the merits but looking at the methodologies employed in comparing underground and overground options. I will await the views of the independent panel before making any comment on it.