Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit go dtí an Teach.

An Bord Pleanála published its decision on the North-South interconnector just before Christmas. It is remarkable in the case of a project of such magnitude that the decision has only nine conditions attached. An ordinary punter would have more conditions attached to a proposal for an extension to a dwelling house.

Needless to say, An Bord Pleanála's decision was met by a tsunami of disappointment, anger and frustration by the people affected. If EirGrid believes people on the ground will take the decision lying down, it is very much mistaken. The determination and resolve of communities opposed to the overgrounding of the North-South interconnector are immeasurable and were very much evident at a meeting I attended in Kells last Thursday night. Opposition to the project is stronger than ever, particularly because people believe the process let them down. Not only that, they believe it was rigged against them and that they were effectively dealing with a fait accompli. There is no greater motivator than a feeling of injustice.The NEPPC and the CMAPC, representing the communities, have made the point that members of the public were placed in a position of having to defend their submissions rather than EirGrid having to defend its planning application. Remarkably, the planning application was never presented at the oral hearing and it was EirGrid's responses to submissions that were used as the basis for the oral hearing. This is a highly irregular approach.

People are very angry that the inputs of landowners and the public were completely ignored. Contributions from local public representatives were not even recorded and county development plans from across the three counties were conflicted. Most of all, the argument accepting that undergrounding was feasible and required further investigation was completely bypassed. The communities fighting the installation of pylons for the interconnector have gathered evidence to show that undergrounding strengthens the grid and improves reliability so that undergrounding is now less expensive than overhead lines. We were told initially told that undergrounding would be 30 times more expensive but with advances in technology, it is now possible that undergrounding is even cheaper than an overhead system. Evidence for this comes from a project currently being undertaken between Belgium and Germany where undergrounding has been done.

In light of such developments it is clear the public has no buy-in to the project as it stands. The Government needs to look very seriously at the underground option and to consider how a project such as this can proceed without public support. It needs to ask why An Bord Pleanála only has responsibility for planning matters and no responsibility for impact on the public, such as the equivalent bodies have in Denmark and Belgium. Most of all, it needs to ask itself why the public feels the system has been rigged against it.

As far as the people of Monaghan, Cavan and Meath are concerned, this project will never see the light of day and I ask the Minister to ensure that EirGrid is instructed to underground the project before it proceeds.