Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I second Senator Marc MacSharry's amendment to the Order of Business calling on the Minister for Communications, Energy and National Resources to come to the House to discuss the establishment of an expert group. While I welcome the establishment of the expert group, I deplore the decision to omit the counties of Cavan, Monaghan, Meath, Laois and Offaly from its remit. It is important that the Minister come to the House to explain why these counties were excluded. Are their inhabitants second-class citizens, as Senator Marc MacSharry suggested? We demand to know the reason for their exclusion. There seems to be confusion among Government Deputies, particularly those from the north-east region, on the matter. Deputy Conlan who represents the constituency in which I live said on radio this morning that he had spoken to the Taoiseach and had been assured that his constituency would be included in the next 48 hours. At the same time, the Minister said in the national media that it would still be excluded, while this morning Deputy Helen McEntee called for its inclusion. What exactly is going on? To facilitate the Minister in putting the record straight, I strongly support the call made by Senator Marc MacSharry that the Minister come to the House this morning to discuss the matter and explain the reasons for his decision. It was interesting to hear Senator Rónán Mullen suggest some of the wind energy companies planned to lay over 200 km of cable underground to facilitate the provision of electricity for the United Kingdom. I understand they offered these facilities to Eirgrid in the counties affected but that the offer was not taken up. Why was it not accepted? I strongly urge the Minister to come to the House.