Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the opportunity to raise the issue of the major electricity transmission project at Coolnabacca, Ratheniska, County Laois, which the Minister is aware is built on a very important local aquifer. On Thursday, 21 June Deputy Stanley and I were at a very well attended public meeting in Ratheniska on this matter. A local committee has been in touch with me in the meantime asking that I make the following points when I raise the issue with the Minister in the Dáil. At the meeting, it was proposed that the three local Deputies - the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, Deputy Stanley and I - seek collectively to meet the new CEO of EirGrid, Mr. Mark Foley. The committee asked me to ensure the local group is represented at such a meeting. It would be useful and normal for elected Members to bring a local delegation to such a meeting and I hope when the meeting takes place the group will be involved. We have been asked to ensure that any such meeting will be in the context of EirGrid not proceeding with the project, which has not received public support. The Minister, Deputy Flanagan, asked EirGrid to pack up and leave the county and not to come back. I reiterate that statement. Too much damage has been done and trust in EirGrid and the ESB, as the operative for the proposed project, is at an all-time low in the local area. The committee does not see much value in meeting EirGrid and I understand the reason it has taken that view given the number of times it has been let. Nevertheless, I urge its members to attend the meeting. As public representatives, we are standing by this group which has been shabbily treated by EirGrid, not to speak of An Bord Pleanála, which bullied it for costs on the steps of the court and forced it to withdraw from the process at a moment's notice.

I made a commitment to table a parliamentary question seeking the details of the officials who met EirGrid to discuss this matter some time ago. The Minister kindly gave us an information note on that meeting last week. We want to know who authored the note. I have sought information on the tender document for the construction work, which should be a public contract. We want to see precisely what work is to be carried out. I will believe what I read in a tender document and given that people have difficulty believing what EirGrid might say, I want to see a copy of that document as soon as possible.

Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein)
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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?

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I thank colleagues for their flexibility in having the debate today rather than last Thursday when I was not available. I welcome the opportunity provided to me by the Deputies to discuss what is an essential electricity grid enhancement project for the midlands. To ensure the national electricity grid is fit for purpose in modern times, it is necessary to carry out grid refurbishment and enhancement on an ongoing basis. In this, EirGrid and ESB Networks work in close co-operation with the ultimate goal of enhancing the national electricity grid in order that it can support Ireland's continued economic development.

I am informed that the Laois-Kilkenny electricity grid reinforcement project is required to improve the security of electricity supply in the midland region. This €110 million investment in the area will ensure the electricity network can meet current and future needs of all users, from homes and farms to small businesses and industrial customers. The Coolnabacca electricity station in County Laois is part of the project, which was granted planning permission in 2014 by An Bord Pleanála. As part of the planning process for the project, an environmental impact statement was completed.

The previous debate on this development in June of last year was triggered by a regrettable and unacceptable breach of planning, when works started at the site in April 2017 without the planning conditions being discharged. The site was restored to its original state by September 2017 and EirGrid and ESB Networks have since reviewed their processes internally to ensure such an oversight does not occur in the future. Following a commitment I made during the debate, my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality, and I attended a meeting with members of the community on 18 January 2018. At the meeting, the Ratheniska, Timahoe, Spink and surrounding areas substation action group outlined aspects of the project with which it was dissatisfied. These aspects covered issues of concern from the origins of the project in 2009 to the present day. I listened carefully to the many views expressed and I undertook to further consider the issues raised. After the meeting, my officials set about examining these issues and to that end they have engaged with EirGrid, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities and other parties. In response to Deputy Fleming, I asked that those issues be addressed. My officials followed them up with EirGrid and the other agencies. I gave a copy of the report to Deputy Fleming when it was presented to me.

I will relay the Deputies' request for a meeting and associated comments directly to EirGrid. I do not have the requested information in regard to the tender documentation. As much documentation as possible should be put into the public domain and I will also relay that request to EirGrid.

I will follow up the point raised by Deputy Stanley in regard to the correspondence from the committee with my office and ensure it is responded to.

Local groups have claimed that the aquifer in the area is being harmed. Water hydrology was fully considered in section 8 of the environmental report submitted with the planning application, which is available on the EirGrid website. It states:

Although for the wider groundwater body hydraulic continuity exists between the Sand and Gravel deposits and the bedrock aquifer, within the localised site area any groundwater in the sand and gravel deposits is not expected to be in hydraulic continuity with the bedrock aquifer underlying the site. This is due to the presence of a proved significant thickness of low permeability Clay deposits, with between 2.7m to 6.8m of clay proved beneath the Sand and Gravel deposits. The clay encountered during the investigations is described as stiff to very stiff at depth, and this stiff clay will impede any vertical groundwater flow.

The aquifer was discussed as part of the oral hearing in 2013. During the examination of the issues raised, the Geological Survey Ireland, GSI, groundwater expert carried out a desktop review of the issue and provided a report. In summary, the GSI confirmed that a locally important sand and gravel aquifer underlies the region around the site of interest and noted that the proposed development is outside of any known groundwater drinking water supply source protection zone. I hope that clarifies the issue on the aquifer.

Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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I ask the Minister to supply his script because he only dealt with the first half of it.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I was trying to answer the questions raised by the Deputies.

Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister was ad-libbing. Okay. It will be on the Dáil record. He acknowledged that the project was mishandled, which led to an understandable breach of trust and much anger. The tender documentation should be made available on etenders.gov.ieor elsewhere such that people can precisely compare what is being constructed with the plans. I ask the Minister to make it publicly available or request that EirGrid does so.

The development is the subject of an ongoing non-compliance complaint against Ireland to the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee. The case was taken by the Ratheniska, Timahoe, Spink and Surrounding Areas Substation Action, RTS, group. A complaint has also been made to the European Commission for breaches of European Union environmental directives. It is unwise to plough tens of millions of euro of Irish taxpayers' money into a project such as this, which is subject to ongoing non-compliance proceedings and it would be more prudent to wait until the proceedings are concluded. I ask that the Minister ask EirGrid to wait until those matters are fully concluded before anything else is done on the site. We look forward to the meeting with the EirGrid officials and representatives of the local group.

Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein)
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At the meeting in Ratheniska two weeks ago, I proposed that the three Deputies meet the chief executive officer, CEO, of EirGrid and representatives of the RTS group. This is a substantial project but the €110 million cost is excessive. The local community is concerned about what else is proposed by EirGrid. There is an issue of trust, the community having previously been misled. There is a concern that there will be further development and that will cause further problems in regard to the electricity network in the area. I look forward to the reply of the Minister to the committee regarding the cost-benefit analysis and the need for the project. I acknowledge his comments in regard to the highlights of the environmental report, which we have previously looked at.

A huge amount of oil will be stored in the substation. There have been serious fires at similar stations in Britain and other countries and there are significant concerns in that regard. The RTS group made a complaint to the European Commission in 2015 and another under the Aarhus Convention, which has been accepted. The Government must accept that those proceedings are ongoing and the Minister, as shareholder on behalf of the public of this State, must meet the CEO of EirGrid and put the brakes on this project until all of these matters, including safety issues, are cleared up.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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We will have to put the brakes on Deputy Stanley.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I reiterate the essential responsibility to ensure that Irish citizens have ongoing secure access to electricity via a world-class electricity infrastructure which rests with EirGrid and ESB Networks. They undertake their work in this regard under the auspices of legislation and in the common interest, which is critical. It is clear that most of the development in Ireland now meets with some opposition. In this case, some local people believe the development is undesirable and continue to express their views on it through lawful protest. We must also remember that the project was awarded planning permission. Ireland's planning process is rightly regarded as one of the most comprehensive and participatory in Europe. As part of the planning process for the project, an environmental impact statement was completed in which the potential impacts on the aquifer and water table were fully considered under section 8. The reports to which I earlier referred are publicly available and I urge Deputies to review the relevant commentaries, which I trust will fully address their concerns. Full planning permission for the project was granted in April 2014. That decision was subject to judicial review proceedings that were dismissed in January 2015. EirGrid and ESB Networks are now carrying out their operational responsibility in attempting to develop the site. I am aware that the RTS group has organised protests at the site. As EirGrid and ESB Networks have no desire for confrontation, they have not attempted to access the site in recent days. I am sure both organisations would be happy to brief the Deputies and the wider community on any and all aspects of the project. Only one right of way is required to access the site, which is now owned by ESB Networks and the right of way has now been secured.