Mary Ann O'Brien (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Sinn Féin motion and the opportunity for us all to debate and discuss this rather serious subject. The London School of Economics, LSE, published a report in February. The LSE is an entirely independent body which has published several pro-wind-energy reports. This one examines 1 million property sales over a one-year period. The value of houses within 2 km of wind turbines was slashed by 11%. Where I live in Kildare the average house price is approximately €245,000, so that represents a slash of €27,000 per property. Apart from fears for their health and for the landscape, many people are worried about this. Will they be compensated? One Sinn Féin Senator mentioned a lady who had saved all her life to buy her dream home in Connemara. What happens to such a person? Does she get compensation?

It is a savage intrusion on our enjoyment of the visual beauty of our countryside and a savage threat to tourism. The problem of wind energy and pylons starts with the citizens who pay tax, not with the Government. All of us here today, and those who are not here, are aware of this subject because one cannot step outside one’s door without somebody talking about it.

If there was a pylon within 50 m of the Minister of State’s home, and his children or grandchildren lived there, would the Minister be happy? There are many studies about the health concerns, arguing for and against cause and effect. Writing in The Irish Times, Dick Ahlstrom said, “Many objectors to the Grid25 pylon project will have cited cancer risks as their major cause of concern.” He referred to a study conducted recently in France, published in the British Journal of Cancer last April, which included all 2,779 cases of acute leukaemia that occurred there between 2002 and 2007, and went on to say:

It showed children had a 70 per cent increased risk of this rare condition if they lived within 50 metres of high voltage power lines of the kind causing controversy in Ireland. It also showed there was no increased risk for children living 50 metres or more from these lines.

I know the Minister of State will respond by quoting some European study, because there are so many studies, but how would he feel if he or his children or grandchildren lived near a pylon? If there is even a shred of doubt about whether these pylons might cause illness in any citizen, young or old, we cannot even begin to think of letting a pylon be built within 50 m of a home.

This motion calls for a cost-benefit analysis. I welcome the fact that the Government has commissioned a report. We have heard that it costs 3.5 times as much to put the cables underground as above ground. Can we please see the quotes for both tenders, underground and above ground, in black and white? When will that be available? When will the Government study be complete and ready for us to examine?