Natural gas not being extended

"Our company needs access to natural gas and we would ask Gaslink to think again," stated Vincent Carton, managing director of Carton Brothers, Shercock, when reacting to the decision of Gaslink not to extend the natural gas network further into County Cavan at this time. "It is really important that significant businesses like ours are not at a disadvantage purely because we are located in a rural area," added Mr. Carton who is head of one of the country's largest poultry processing facilities based in Shercock. Efforts to have the natural gas network extended to Cavan town, Shercock and Cootehill have been unsuccessful - at least for now. Gaslink, the operator of Ireland's natural gas network, have just completed the third and final phase of their "new towns study", which examined the economic viability of connecting further urban centres to the natural gas network. A total of 39 towns were examined in the study and Gaslink say that it is not economically viable to extend the gas network to the three Cavan towns concerned but that they will continue to review towns that did not qualify for connection in this latest study. A key factor enabling qualification in any future review would be a significant increase in demand for natural gas resulting from the addition of a new large industrial or commercial facility. Industries such as Pauwels Trafo (Cavan), Abbott Laboratories (Cootehill) and Cartron Brothers (Shercock) have been seeking to connect to the natural gas network for sometime to save money in energy costs. The natural gas network already extends to Kingscourt (Gypsum Industries) and to Mullagh (Wellman International). Gaslink have not elaborated on why the aforementioned Co. Cavan towns were not found to be economically viable in terms of extending the gas pipeline. Shercock is approximately seven miles from Kingscourt, which has a natural gas supply; while Cootehill is nine miles further on. Abbott Laboratories is one of the region's largest industries, while Cavan town is 18 miles from Virginia that is already on the network. Mr. Carton expressed his unhappiness at the Gaslink decision. "We are, of course, very disappointed that Shercock will not be on the gas grid and as a result our company cannot avail of a clean and environmentally green fuel for our energy needs. We employ over 600 people in Shercock throughout the year and an additional 120 during the summer months. The company needs access to natural gas and we would ask Gaslink to think again. It is really important that significant businesses like ours are not at a disadvantage purely because we are located in a rural area," he told The Anglo-Celt.