Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To follow on from Senator Kelly's point, a wind farm application was thankfully refused in County Meath recently. The whooper swan was one of the reasons, but also the very important heritage we have in County Meath. I am sorry to say that heritage is being further threatened by EirGrid, which has put in a planning application for a gigantic and extremely ugly overhead power line at a time when we are told that nothing is happening in that regard and that the Taoiseach has stopped various projects. That is not the case in Meath, Cavan and Monaghan. There is a major proposal to put a 400 kV line from Kilmullen in south County Meath all the way up to Kingscourt and beyond into Cavan and Monaghan. It will have a severe impact on the heritage and tourism potential of County Meath and on the enjoyment of life and health of citizens there who, as Senator Kelly rightly pointed out, are the most important people in the process. It is the people whose will and view should be listened to by the authorities.

This particular type of project was stopped in its tracks in County Mayo because there is a Taoiseach there. This project was also stopped in its tracks all through the constituency of the former Minister, Phil Hogan, but in County Meath, despite the fact that five of the six Deputies in County Meath are Government Deputies, they seem to have had no influence whatsoever on the project. Planning permission has been sought but it is not too late for the Government to say it is unfair and unjust on the people of County Meath. In the meantime, because it is going through the statutory process, it is important that everybody in County Meath, not just those under the proposed route of the pylons, would take part in the An Bord Pleanála planning procedure. They should lodge their objections, and if they cannot afford the €50 fee they should join with others to put in an objection. It is important that the public knows that people can join together in one objection to save money because it is very expensive to go through the process.

I hope that someone will listen to the people, and to those who have been campaigning on the issue for almost eight years, and will say that the lines can be put underground. The people of Meath support an interconnector route but it must be put underground. Who would have thought the field of Tailteann, the area where the Tailteann Games took place - that famous celebration in ancient Ireland - would be utterly destroyed by what EirGrid is proposing? It is outrageous and disgraceful and the people of Meath will not accept it, in particular the people who own the land, who in effect are the caretakers of the land of Meath for the next generations. They will not let EirGrid on to their land to build the project and I support them in that.