Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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218. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the terms of reference for the expert panel to oversee the preparation of reports on Grid Link and Grid West; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10363/14]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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On 28 January last, in response to EirGrid’s recent public consultation process, I announced that I had appointed an Independent Panel of Experts, to be chaired by Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness, to decide the terms of reference for, and to oversee the integrity of a process to be undertaken by EirGrid to report on, comprehensive, route-specific studies of overhead and underground options for both the Grid Link and Grid West projects.

The outputs from those studies, which will be required to be complete, objective and comparable, will be published before proceeding to the next stage of public consultation on those two projects. The two studies will take account of environmental (including visual amenity) impacts, technical efficacy and cost factors. The Panel will have power to commission its own work if there is any perceived deficiency in the studies presented.

The Panel has now commenced its deliberations including settling the terms of reference to oversee the integrity of the process now being put into place. The Panel’s terms of reference will be published by the Panel once they have been agreed. Similarly, the Panel's position regarding submissions of material to it, and third party requests to meet with it, will also be published once the Panel has finalised and agreed its position on these matters.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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219. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will provide a definitive commitment from Government to guarantee that the Grid West Link will be connected to the existing 110Kv electricity network from the very start of the planning process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10366/14]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The €240m Grid West project, which is part of EirGrid’s Grid25 plan to upgrade the national transmission system between now and 2025, is a new high-capacity power line linking the Bellacorick area in County Mayo to a strong point on the transmission grid at Flagford in County Roscommon.

Grid West is needed to connect the electricity generated by the region’s huge renewable energy resources and also to facilitate significant job creation and investment as well as contributing to national recovery and growth.

The Government does not seek to direct EirGrid or other energy infrastructure developers to particular sites or routes or technologies. These are matters for the developers and for the forward planning process through regional and local development plans and at project level through the development management process. In this context, energy infrastructure developers are encouraged to work with the forward planning processes at regional and local level to set a clear context for assessment of individual applications for planning consent to facilitate as wide a degree of consensus as possible as to how (and where) to meet grid development needs.

The Government does expect the Companies in making their choices, of project specific technologies and routing as well as mitigation measures, to take account of all relevant national and international standards, to follow best practice and ensure value for money and be informed by detailed consultation at local level.

On 28 January last, in response to EirGrid’s recent public consultation process, I announced that I had appointed an Independent Panel of Experts, to be chaired by Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness, to decide the terms of reference for, and to oversee the integrity of a process to be undertaken by EirGrid to report on, comprehensive, route-specific studies of overhead and underground options for both the Grid Link and Grid West projects.

The outputs from those studies, which will be required to be complete, objective and comparable, will be published before proceeding to the next stage of public consultation on those two projects. The two studies will take account of environmental (including visual amenity) impacts, technical efficacy and cost factors.