John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to support my colleague, Senator Landy, in welcoming the terms of reference that were issued by the expert group regarding the issue of overhead pylons versus the placing underground of cables. I also urge the expert panel to take submissions from all the community groups nationwide that have invested a great deal of time and money in fighting the pylon issue. It has been interesting that from the outset and over the past two years, Senators Whelan, Landy and I came out and backed those communities when nobody else was doing so. Suddenly, however, now that the elections to the European Parliament are under way, every candidate is on the side of those who are fighting against pylons, which in itself is a message to the Government. When one has candidates from Fine Gael, the Labour Party, Fianna Fáil and everyone else saying this, it is time to examine the possibility of placing these cables underground.

In respect of the former Minister, Deputy Shatter, on a personal level I am sorry for both him and his family that he thought he needed to resign. However, I always believed that in certain situations, the former Minister was ill-advised. Prior to the last general election, he gave a clear commitment that were he elected, he would instigate an independent investigation of inquiry into the murder of Fr. Niall Molloy. I have no doubt but that he listened to his officials from the Department of Justice and Equality and to the Garda Commissioner. He danced around the edges of that issue and did not deliver by acting decisively on it. I intend to call on the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, to do the right thing in respect of the Fr. Niall Molloy case and do that to which every other colleague of hers has signed up and has pledged, namely, it should have happened, will happen and will happen as a matter of urgency.