Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House and advise him that I may go on a tangent. It is one of the final opportunities I will have to address him on issues pertaining to his portfolio. We are dealing with a miscellaneous Bill that includes provisions for the single electricity market so I will use the opportunity to briefly discuss the North-South interconnector. An argument made for this project should be evaluated in a single integrated hearing, with a new body perhaps being set up to encompass both the North and South. The foundation of the argument is that the North-South interconnector, although it is an all-Ireland project, is being analysed independently in the two different jurisdictions, using completely different processes and regulations. It has been argued that it should be analysed using a single integrated assessment process, even if that requires the setting up of a new body. I know the EU has designated this is a project of common interest, so elements that concern the North are important to the South and vice versa. Currently, there is the potentially absurd possibility that the project could be approved in the South and refused in the North or vice versa. The question would then be what would happen.

From a practical perspective, there is a need for each submission, North and South, to use and rely on information from the other jurisdiction. Some examples have been provided to me. The 1 km route corridor for the South section covers a significant area in the North that is close to the Border. One of the photo montage sites for assessing the visual impact in the South is located in the North and some of the whooper swan nesting sites and flight path routes for the South's submission are also recorded as being in the North. The EirGrid traffic management plan for the southern submission includes a significant area within the North. Some of the archaeological and heritage sites impacted by the southern submission are again recorded in the North, close to the Border. A landholding in the North traverses the Border into the South and a residence in the South is only 44.1 m from the line, which goes into the North. Some of the maps used down here state the following, "Note: This material is based upon Crown copyright and is reproduced with the permission from the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office".

One cannot do an environmental impact assessment and not consider the impact it will have on the North. That is equally true in terms of assessments done in the North and which impact on the South. What is the Minister's opinion on this and the feasibility of some all-island planning tribunal? It would be remiss of me not to use this, one of my last opportunities to address the Minister, to further tease out once more the issue of the North-South interconnector. I know we have done this before, it has been discussed in the other House as well, and it is one of the big issues dominating the political agenda as we come into the general election. Last Thursday, 21 January, An Bord Pleanála announced that it will hold an oral hearing into the resubmitted planning application by EirGrid for the North-South interconnector. As the Minister is aware, the original application had been withdrawn in 2010, seven weeks after the hearing had commenced. That particular application by EirGrid in 2010 sought approval for a 400,000-volt interconnector using around 410 pylon towers and overhead lines, stating that an underground option was not technically feasible. The resubmitted application in 2016 is seeking approval for that. An underground option is now feasible but is not considered desirable by EirGrid. The Minister is aware of the scale of the large public opposition to the North-South interconnector as it is proposed with the overground pylons. I am of the view that the project itself will be in jeopardy if an underground alternative is not forthcoming in the future. I recognise that the project is important in supplying electricity and would never be under any illusion that it is not but it is important to highlight the opposition that is there to the plan as proposed. Campaigns such as North East Pylon Pressure, NEPP, have raised concerns in respect of oral hearings. NEPP is requesting that anyone who has made a written submission should have an automatic right to participate at the oral hearing, irrespective of their submission request date. NEPP also has questions and concerns about the proceedings on the day. It is important that the Minister in his reply to the debate deals with the all-Ireland planning issue.