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

I will do my best to get over the hurdles in that time.

I wish to set out the reasons we and the economy need EirGrid's Grid25 infrastructure programme and the steps that are being taken to engage

local communities in the roll-out of the programme. I am more than anxious to learn from the contributions of parliamentary colleagues how best to guarantee the country a safe, secure and affordable electricity supply. However, I cannot accede to the request that I set aside the planning process and go back to the bad old days when Ministers arbitrarily made such decisions. I am certain that is not what was in Senator Rónán Mullen's mind or is not what he intended when he drafted the motion. Effectively, it seeks to remove decision-making from the planning process before it has even engaged with the issues involved. Instead, the House is asked to decide now where and how power lines are to be built. Clearly, I cannot accept the motion, as it stands. Accordingly, I have offered an amendment which has been proposed by my colleague Senator Cáit Keane. That is not to say I do not welcome the opportunity to participate in this debate and to have a meeting of minds, as recommended by Senator Cáit Keane, if possible.

The motion tabled by Senator Rónán Mullen does not adequately acknowledge existing Government policy, the planning process and the legislation, which together provide a framework for ensuring comprehensive statutory and non-statutory consultation is built into the process for rolling out energy infrastructure and that all necessary standards for health, safety and environmental protection are met. I am particularly concerned about the criticisms I have heard about the quality of the engagement and consultation that has been detailed by some Senators. After the experience of what happened - I take little exception to Senator Thomas Byrne's contribution in that regard - I thought we had learned the lesson. The extensive consultation process put in place was designed to learn from that experience. I am very concerned that Members are saying that it is not working as intended. A lot of money and time are being spent on consultation and offices are being opened along the putative routes or corridors. If this can be dismissed as bogus consultation, that is a great disappointment to me. I am not sure it is fair to EirGrid which has entered into the consultation process with the intention of learning from the experience of the Meath-Tyrone jigsaw piece.

It is, of course, a truism that energy is the lifeblood of the economy and our society. Electricity and gas demand, for business and households, must be met safely and securely on a continuous basis 365 days a year. Energy policy has a pivotal role to play in creating the conditions for economic recovery and job creation. Building major infrastructure today is becoming more challenging, yet most people understand we cannot attract investment and provide jobs without a modern energy system. Water and energy supplies are at the top of the priority list for those thinking of investing in Ireland. Our ability to rebuild the economy, attract and retain foreign investment, sustain Irish enterprise, create jobs and growth, deliver regional development and ensure the well-being of the people all depend on this. Ireland has undergone a considerable transformation in its energy policy in recent years, driven by ambitious targets for renewable energy, a substantial increase in energy efficiency and the continued opening up of gas and electricity markets to competition, with resultant benefits for business and domestic consumers.

Development of the high voltage electricity grid, as planned in EirGrid's Grid25 strategy, is critical to our long-term economic recovery. Grid25 is a major initiative that will put in place a safe, secure and affordable electricity supply throughout Ireland. It will take several years to complete and represents an investment of €3.2 billion. It involves extensive work throughout the country, including building 800 km of new power lines and upgrading 2,000 km of existing lines, double the size of today's grid. Some colleagues have said we should bide our time because technology is changing and becoming cheaper. The problem with energy projects is that we are talking about a ten to 15 year lifespan. We do not want to find ourselves in the circumstances in which the neighbouring island has found itself, where it has a real fear about security of energy supply in the immediate years ahead.

Grid25 will reduce our dependency on imported fossil fuels by putting in place the infrastructure to enable us to use our own natural resources, help us to create less carbon waste and enable us to reach our 40% targets for the generation of electricity from renewable sources by 2020. I could engage at length with Senator Sean D. Barrett on this issue, but we are part of a committee of nations, the European Union, and have mandatory targets to reach. Most agree that the decarbonisation of our electricity system is a good idea. The Government wants to be able to give a strong and consistent message to Irish businesses and multinationals and citizens that Ireland's electricity networks are robust, modern and safe. Grid25 must be a practical illustration of our collective and continuing commitment to large-scale investment in electricity infrastructure.

The national investment programme in the electricity transmission and distribution grids will provide capacity to facilitate regional economic development alongside the development of renewable energy sources. It will allow for long-term growth in the demand for electricity and ensure efficient operation of the all-island single electricity market. Our ability to rebuild the economy, deliver regional development and so much else is dependent on significant energy infrastructure. Ireland needs to deliver a world-class electricity transmission system in all regions which meets the needs of Ireland in the 21st century. The network investment programmes by the State energy companies over recent years have given us energy networks that have met the challenges of severe weather episodes and record peak demands. Ireland's energy networks compare most favourably with those of other countries in terms of safety and resilience. Continuing the steady level of development and renewal of the networks is essential to ensure that Ireland's energy system is fit for purpose, safe and secure, and ready to meet increased demand as economic conditions improve.

EirGrid was established as a statutory agency to deliver a safe, secure and affordable electricity supply. I stress that the Government does not and should not direct EirGrid to particular sites, routes or technologies, as we made clear in our document Government Policy Statement on the Strategic Importance of Transmission and Other Energy Infrastructure of July last year. Senator Byrne has read that document but, having listened attentively, I must say with the greatest respect that other colleagues have not read it. Gone are the days of Aristotle, who could be an expert on every area. One cannot be an expert in everything today. It is too complex a world. However, that is the cornerstone document in approaching this issue.

On what seems to be the core issue of overgrounding versus undergrounding, experts assert that there is no single right solution that applies to every development and that technical solutions must instead be project-specific. EirGrid has confirmed that its planning applications must include a published formal assessment of the available alternatives for each project for consideration by An Bord Pleanála. It has been asserted by several Members of the House that EirGrid will not do so and that EirGrid has a closed mind or that I have a closed mind, and I refer them to that paragraph in stating that is not the case. Conventional overhead line is still the most common solution adopted both worldwide and in Europe, and it still offers significantly lower investment costs than any underground alternative. More than 95% of high-voltage transmission lines in Europe are overhead lines, and construction of 400 kV lines is continuing in all EU countries.

Every Member of the House has brought to this debate the real concerns of people out there, which I entirely empathise with and understand, but we also have a habit of assimilating all the canards that are out there and regurgitating them here as if they were facts. Many of the canards are precisely that. They are baseless, just as the charges against telephone masts were baseless. For example, I will take up this claim that undergrounding is now the norm in Europe. I have a list giving the number of kilometres of 400 kV overhead lines and the number of kilometres of 400 kV lines that go underground in each country in Europe. The percentages of wiring that is underground are as follows: Austria, 1.94%; Belgium, zero percent; France, 0.1%; Germany, 0.34%; Great Britain, 1.91%; the Netherlands, 1.43%; Spain, 0.28%; Switzerland, 0.45%; and so on. One can single out Denmark, as one can single out Norway when we are discussing all that oil I have given away to the multinationals while not paying attention to the fact they have not yet found any oil. However, according to Fintan O'Toole and the rest of those sitting on the ditch, I should impose-----