EirGrid challenged over claim they are engaging with landowners

Eirgrid has been accused of arrogantly dismissing landowner rights following recent comments by the company's CEO, Mark Foley on access to land.

In a recent response to Monaghan County Council Mr Foley said the ESB would seek to enforce statutory powers of access to construct the North South electricity interconnector. where landowners do not give permission for entrance onto their property.

However the North East Pylon Pressure Campaign (NEPPC) have warned: “They will do so at their peril.”

Eirgrid and the ESB have also been accused of misleading the public by NEPPC, who questioned their assertion that they had been engaging with landowners.

In a written response to questions from Monaghan County Council, Mr Foley said:

“In the event that access arrangements cannot be agreed and access is not forthcoming, then in order to construct the line and associated structures, and only where necessary, ESB shall seek to enforce its statutory powers of access under Section 53.”

“EirGrid and SONI in Northern Ireland have been engaging with landowners and communities along the route of the north-south interconnector for several years.

“In recent months, EirGrid and SONI have been engaging with landowners to seek access on behalf of ESB and NIE Networks to carry out pre-construction, ecological and ground investigation borehole surveys.

“The engagement to date has been broadly positive and engaging, and access was made available to accommodate ESB contractors in carrying out these surveys on their land,” said Mr Foley.

A spokesperson for the NEPPC said Mr Foley’s statements were misleading in relation to claiming that Eirgrid has been "engaging with landowners and communities."

“There was no public consultation or engagement. The decision to overhead the line was decided prior to even informing the public about the project. Communication of a decision already made is not engagement. It is dictatorship.

“EirGrid serially refuses to supply information. NEPPC has and continues to spend mountains of time sending in requests for basic information.

“At this point EirGrid still refuses to reveal any design details about the 400 pylons being planned. The ‘Project Plan’ that is required to be in place between EirGrid and ESB is not being made available.

“EirGrid is solely responsible for defining specific access routes for each of the 400 pylons. No access routes were submitted to Bord Pleanala, none are approved. All access routes to date are, using their own words, ‘indicative only’.

Final access routes have yet to be submitted to the three Local Authorities for agreement ‘prior to the commencement of development’.This has not yet happened.”

The spokesperson said the ESB cannot exercise any powers of wayleave unless and until EirGrid has access routes agreed with the Local Authorities planners.

“Local Authority planners need to step up to the mark here. We will be requesting they do so. We will also be seeking clarification for why walkover ecology surveys were permitted, surveys that should have formed part of the original planning application.”

“So EirGrid/ESB are planning to drive on regardless, with full government support. They will do so at their peril. Are they planning to put us all in jail?

“It is a sad day for any democracy when a semi-state company is trying to pick off individual landowners and stressed situations as a means of dividing and conquering local communities.

“NEPPC reiterates that it will continue to represent all signed-up landowners on this project. It has respected the spirit and the letter of Covid restrictions, for the last two years and for that reason was unable to hold public meetings and updates.

This is no longer the case. We ask all landowners to be vigilant for any intrusions onto their lands, and to report them to us,” he said.