Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein)

I welcome the Minister to the House and am delighted he could attend in person for the discussion on the report he commissioned. I thank him for convening that group and publishing its report.

The commissioned report is a detailed piece of work, the result of intensive lobbying by concerned communities throughout the State, especially in the Cavan-Monaghan-Meath region, in respect of the North-South interconnector. It is a by-product of an election promise by the Government to review and report on a case for, and cost of, undergrounding all or part of the Meath-Tyrone 400 kV powerlines.

At often great personal cost, financial and otherwise, community representatives have challenged and matched the unlimited resources the State's apparatus in their journey to get these cables undergrounded. The lack of a definitive recommendation as to whether the electricity cables should go above or below ground leaves wide open the avenue for the Minister to instruct EirGrid to underground the cables. Unlike EirGrid, which has vehemently opposed the undergrounding of the interconnector, the key finding here must be that the expert commission found that such undergrounding is a realistic solution. It was not that it was impossible, nor that it would cost 20 times the cost of overgrounding, as had been stated previously by EirGrid in any debates prior to this.

EirGrid must now accept that undergrounding these cables is a viable solution. It is primarily driven by significant technical developments and a commercial breakthrough of the most recently developed VSC-HVDC technology. The report is of significant value to the argument surrounding the use and feasibility of undergrounding technology. The report's findings and EirGrid's stubbornness in failing to admit that it could use undergrounding has been described as being similar to someone still using analogue television when the rest of the world is moving on to digital services. This endorses what Sinn Féin and the campaigning communities have consistently stated and it flies in the face of EirGrid's assertions.

The commission notes that the project will be slightly more expensive but it does not take into account the additional costs associated with overhead power lines and pylons. Issues of note that were not provided for in the terms of reference include environmental impact assessments, land and property devaluation, the impact on farming and agriculture and the potential effects of pylons on people's health.

Where to now? The Minister stated that following a brief period of consultation he would revert to the Government with a memorandum on security of energy supply to which EirGrid and the planning process will have regard. How long with the consultation process last and to whom will it be open? What influence will the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications, Natural Resources and Agriculture exert over this? When can we expect the memorandum to be published? Will it be enforced by the Minister or will it simply be an advisory note to which EirGrid and planners can choose to have regard? If EirGrid had had its way, there would not have been a report, these massive pylons would have been erected by now and the people would still be fed the same story that undergrounding is not possible or feasible. Most important, will the Minister halt further activity on the interconnector until the consultation process on the report coupled with the analysis of the memorandum has been completed?

This time last year, Fine Gael, which is the largest Government party, promised that it would direct EirGrid to halt further activity on the interconnector until the analysis had been conducted but that has not happened. The party also said it would instruct EirGrid to reimburse community groups for all relevant costs associated with participation in the oral hearing process in 2010 and that has not happened either. Given EirGrid has completed the first round of non-statutory public consultation in preparation for submitting a formal new application to An Bord Pleanála, people do not just have the right to inform the process but, as the option has been deemed feasible, they have the right to have their costs reimbursed. I would like the Minister, separately, to instruct EirGrid to do that. The company should not be allowed to plough ahead with its plans until this report has been seriously analysed.