Eirgrid accused of bullying as 35-day oral hearing ends
Almost 12 weeks of oral hearings into the proposed North South electricity interconnector, which is to run through parts of Cavan, ended yesterday in Carrickmacross.
Having heard all the submission, inspectors will now prepare a report for An Bord Pleanála, which is expected to announce its decision later this year.
EirGrid applied to the board 11 months ago to build a 400kV overhead line with almost 300 pylons stretching 135km from Meath through part of Cavan and Monaghan to Armagh and Tyrone. The detailed plans have been examined in detail at the oral hearing that began in March and lasted 35 days. It was one of the biggest ever such enquiries into what is said to be the largest single infrastructure development in the state in recent years.
The EirGrid proposal for pylons and overhead lines would enter the parish of Kingscourt at one end on the Kingscourt to Kells Road and exit on the Shercock Road end, heading towards County Monaghan. Seven kilometres of the route would traverse across nine public roads in total, used every day by residents and people in their cars, criss-crossing that area.
Pat Farrelly of Kingscourt GAA Club told the hearing that the pylons were a big concern and it was the one topic that was being talked about locally. He said there were concerns about the health of players, club members and the public and said that the lines should be undergrounded.
Bullying accusations
EirGrid has been accused of bullying and of showing disregard and disrespect for people in Cavan, Monaghan and Meath affected by the company’s plan to build an overhead high voltage North/South electricity interconnector.
Government Chief Whip Regina Doherty TD (Meath East) along with two Sinn Féin TDs were among those who made closing submissions on Monday to the two inspectors at an oral hearing in Carrickmacross.
Ms Doherty called on An Bord Pleanála when making their decision to take into account the impact the plan would have on real lives, the effect on which she said could not be underestimated.
Sinn Féin Cavan/Monaghan Deputy Caoimghín Ó Caoláin said the lives, hopes, plans and ambitions of people had been suspended in midair for the past nine years as a result of the application. If EirGrid thought the repeated statements that had been made favouring an underground route were a bluff, then let them call their bluff and they would see how strong the support was for undergrounding the interconnector.
The anti-pylon group North East Pylon Pressure Campaign (NEPPC) representing 200 landowners in Cavan and Meath told the inspectors that the EirGrid planning application remained invalid and should be rejected. Dr Padraig O’Reilly said multiple changes to the application that had been made during the 11-week oral hearing were an unacceptable waste of public monies. He said An Bord Pleanála had a duty not only to reject the application outright, but to direct that an appropriate alternative be considered for the future.
Closing submission from Eirgrid
Brian Murray SC for EirGrid said the proposed infrastructure was necessary to overcome the risk of system separation and to increase transfer capacity between the two electricity transmission systems on the island.
He said the use of Direct Current (DC) as opposed to AC current was considered. A DC option would be suboptimal as it would not provide the same level of reliability and security of supply as an AC solution. He said there was no example of a comparable HVDC scheme embedded in an AC system.
Mr Murray concluded: “EirGrid submits that the second North-South Interconnector is a project, which is critically necessary. It is a project, which we believe can only be sustainably developed in the manner proposed and it is a project, which minimises adverse impacts to the greatest extent possible.”
* For a full and detailed report from the hearing from reporter Michael Fisher, see tomorrow's Anglo-Celt.