Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have a consistent position on this issue. I have always felt that they should be put underground and that they are a terrible imposition on the landscape. They are causing huge stress, worry and anxiety, as are the wind turbines in large parts of rural Ireland. We must have a proper debate on this. We must have a debate on the facts. We cannot have a debate when the decision is made. We cannot have a debate which says that An Bord Pleanála will decide, because An Bord Pleanála has to have regard to Government policy and we know what Government policy is. It starts and ends with the Government. We in the Oireachtas must try to shine a light on what is happening and on where the pressure is coming from, because there is a lot of pressure to move this project on.

Wind energy has a huge place in our future and it is necessary to have it, as long as it is not an imposition on the citizens of this country, as long as people do not have to suffer due to turbines beside them, and as long as they do not have to put up with that. There are many places in this country where turbines can be erected to help our own economic development and our own quest for renewable energy sources, whether we want to export the energy or not.

The issues of pylons and turbines are interconnected, even though each party claims they are totally separate. When the pylon project in County Meath and County Cavan was first enunciated six and a half years ago, it was specifically for the export of renewable energy. It was about bringing the wind energy down from Donegal at the time. Now that has been dropped and it has been said that we do not need it and it is just to reinforce the local and regional grid. They have chopped and changed. Senator Mulcahy made the point that we cannot let the lights go out. EirGrid claimed something similar in County Meath six and a half years ago; the company claimed that if the project did not go ahead, there would be power cuts by 2011 and 2012. It did not happen, so the question is whether we can believe that. I certainly do not want to stand in the way of infrastructure development, but the pylon issue has been outlined well by Senator Cullinane.

We were told at the beginning that it was impossible to put the lines underground. We were then told that it would be 25 times the cost. Then we got a Government report which stated that it was three times the cost, and I give credit to the Government for carrying out that report. The technology is constantly changing and should be examined. I do not know if the Minister can give us any update on the Catherine McGuinness commission and whether that commission is including the North-South line, because I have not heard whether it is. Perhaps I have missed something, but it seems that was put to the commission some time ago.