Eirgrid could access lands without consent of owner

Cavan County Council has moved to clarify planning permission granted to EirGrid in respect of the proposed North-South Interconnector that may allow the company, even without owner consent, to access lands via the ESB by serving what is known as a ‘wayleave’ notice.
The detail has emerged on foot on a Freedom of Information (FoI) request submitted by The Anglo-Celt earlier this year.
The information is contained in a set of meeting notes titled ‘North South project - Approach to discharge of planning conditions’, dated September 6, 2018.
Attendance recorded includes officials - names redacted - from EirGrid, ESB Networks, ESB International (ESBI), and from Meath 
and Monaghan County Councils.
No representative from Cavan County Council was in attendance and the meeting took place at the Nuremore Hotel near Carrickmacross.
The purpose of the meeting was to ‘seek agreement or otherwise on the approach to discharge of the planning conditions.
EirGrid is ‘responsible for obtaining agreement’ with landowners for gaining access to land. However the representative of Monaghan County Council asked ‘how access to land would be gained’ in the event of a landowner refusing access.
In reply, it is recorded that EirGrid explained: ‘We endeavour to gain access to land with the agreement of the landowner. This is how the vast majority of access to land is obtained. However, if agreement cannot be reached despite all reasonable efforts, there is statutory provision within the Electricity Act for access to land for the purpose of construction and maintaining transmission infrastructure. 
“These powers are provided on serving a wayleave notice. This notice is served by the ESB.’
It’s added: ‘This condition does not require any agreement from the councils, and that the engagement of EirGrid appointed liaison officers will ‘increase’ once direct landowner engagement commences.’
Concern over the those conditions was highlighted by Fianna Fail’s Clifford Kelly at the monthly meeting of elected members to Cavan County Council on Monday, November 11.
He said that people living in the region affected, predominantly in the Kingscourt and east of the county, as well as Monaghan and north county Meath, were determined to “not allow the ESB or EirGrid on their land”.
He insisted that “no discussion and no agreements” should take place on access without the consent of landowners affected.
The controversial €286 million 400kV interconnector investment would connect electricity grids via 299 pylons across counties, Cavan, Monaghan and Meath, Armagh and Tyrone.
To that effect, a series of motions were tabled by both Cllr Kelly and Aontú’s Sarah O’Reilly, which included that the council provide elected members with a regular update on correspondence between the local authority and EirGrid. It was said that a similar arrangement exists between councillors in Monaghan and their executive.
They also asked that Cavan County Council provide clarity on what access to lands the planning permission allows EirGrid.
Cllr O’Reilly warned, if the interconnector project goes ahead as planned, and the lines are not under-grounded as requested repeatedly by opposition groups, that some areas of the county would be “destroyed with pylons”.
Their motions were supported too by Sinn Fein’s Paddy McDonald.
Director of Services with Cavan County Council, Brendan Jennings, said he would have an answer for the elected members addressing their concerns at or before the next meeting.
Meanwhile, David Martin from Eirgrid had this to say: “As the electricity transmission system operator, EirGrid is responsible for obtaining the necessary consents and permissions for new infrastructure projects. This covers agreements with landowners for gaining access to land, a process known as wayleaving.”