Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Senator is most welcome. This matter is of huge concern. I wish to raise two issues. There are three proposed routes. Please forgive my lack of knowledge in engineering when it comes to this issue. Much of the expense in putting the lines underground has to do with acquisition of land in terms of compensating farmers for disruption, finding ways around private property and dealing with public roads. I note that the Waterford element of the route, to a large degree, skirts the motorway which is in public ownership. We have done all the land deals. Perhaps the Minister would inform me as to the issues with putting the underground cables on the grass margin between the fence and the motorway.

If one is travelling from Naas to Waterford, I suggest one would not take a convoluted route across land but would use the motorway. Given that we own the motorway and that the land deals have already been done at huge cost to the taxpayer, what are the engineering difficulties, apart from disruption to traffic, in laying the cables on the motorway to Waterford, thereby not causing distress to the people involved?

I note that the route skirts across to Cork. There is also a motorway to Cork. A saving could be made by not using the link road between Waterford and Cork which may be in need of upgrading, an issue I must raise with the Minister for Transport. I suggest he might use the motorway that splits and goes to Cork city which I use every week. That is one of the challenges the Minister's Department might examine with their colleagues in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to see whether it is possible, if we want to get to Waterford, to use the grass margin which I believe would be substantial enough to allow for laying the required ducting on both sides. What are the engineering obstacles to that? I am aware that somebody from EirGrid said it was not possible to put it underground. In Canada they managed to put it underground. It cost more. A huge element of that has to do with the delay involved in land acquisition. Perhaps the Minister will address that issue. As the health issues have been raised I will not raise them.

In regard to the issue of the public consultation and whether that has been wholesome, I am not in favour of the current process. We have outlined our issues in this regard. It costs €500 million which is a huge amount of money. We are calling for the suspension of the issue. Perhaps the Minister will address the idea of laying the ducting along the motorway and the impediments to that approach.