Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Senator said he acknowledges that we cannot have economic development without energy and power and I agree with him but he seemed to say we cannot run lines near areas of tourist beauty or across farmland where cattle or horses might graze. Where will we run them? The Senator cannot have it both ways. He cannot say we have to have power lines but not in my backyard. What is going on in Waterford and along the possible corridors of this essential transmission connection is a public consultation programme where a number of offices have been opened along the way by EirGrid to hear from stakeholders and to stimulate debate but we should not scaremonger about blighting the landscape and blotting the countryside or say, like Hanrahan, "Ochón, ochón, before the year is out we will be all ruined". How are we going to develop a modern economy in this country if we do not have power? It is essential-----