Pylon opponents get chance to have voices heard

It has been two-and-a-half years since that first extraordinarily large meeting of objectors came together in Trim to kick-start the campaign of opposition to the plan by EirGrid to construct a high voltage electricity line from Batterstown to Kingscourt. Few local events in recent decades galvanised the kind of support witnessed that night in November 2007 when thousands of angry and anxious rural dwellers descended on Knightsbrook Hotel to outline their objections to the proposal. This week, in Carrickmacross, the tens of thousands who have pledged their opposition to the pylons will have a chance to make their point where it counts - at the Bord Pleanala oral hearing into the planning application, which is being fast-tracked through the Strategic Infrastructure Board (SIB). Over the next several weeks, the well-organised opposition group, North-East Pylon Pressure (NEPP) - which claims to represent 45,000 individuals and businesses - will argue that the network of giant electricity pylons is not justified and represents a danger to health. NEPP says it will challenge the assumptions, methodology, analysis and recommendations arrived at by EirGrid in attempting to impose this project on the region. EirGrid, for its part, in outlining its case this week, said the North-South Interconnector was needed to ensure a reliable supply of high-quality power, reduce the need for capital investment in power stations and reinforce electricity supplies in the north-east. It remains adamant that overhead line infrastructure is no different to any of the existing 439km of 400kV line that already exists in Ireland - and the hundreds of thousands of kilometres which criss-cross the continent of Europe. Most people on both sides of this fierce debate accept that this country needs to secure reliable power supplies, particularly at a time of energy and economic uncertainty. A secure energy supply is a prerequisite for investors planning to base high-tech industries and create high-value jobs in Ireland, and foreign direct investors need to be assured they can be provided with a reliable supply when it comes to making decisions about basing themselves here. EirGrid is the entity tasked with ensuring this assurance can be given, so there are very high stakes involved for the energy transmission operator. Where both sides differ in this debate is how to deliver this power. EirGrid wants to build the infrastructure overground while NEPP is demanding it be buried underground. EirGrid argues that no line of this length, from Meath to Tyrone, has ever been built underground. If it were to do so, it would be horrendously expensive. They also believe it would be unreliable and pose difficulties in quickly pinpointing faults, were they to occur. The objectors, on the other hand, say undergrounding the cables is a viable alternative. They accept that the initial cost of building the infrastructure would be more expensive, but say that, looked at over a 40-year time horizon, this option would end up actually costing less. There is no doubt this has been the most contentious project in decades in County Meath. The fact that 800 submissions have been made to Bord Pleanala from opponents not only Meath, but also Cavan and Monaghan, gives a sense of the kind of feelings it has evoked across a vast swathe of the north-east region. This number of submissions eclipses even Bord Pleanala's most controversial previous application - that by developer Sean Dunne to redevelop the Berkeley Court Hotel site in Dublin's leafy Ballsbridge. It is this depth of feeling from parents, farmers, schools and parishes across three counties that Bord Pleanala must ensure it listens to. There are particularly serious and genuine fears among many people about the potential harm these giant electricity pylons could do, not only to human and animal health but also the impact they will have on the environment, farming, heritage, tourism and the rural way of life. NEPP says this hearing is what it has been waiting for - the opportunity to put its arguments across and have them held up to scrutiny, but also to closely question all the assurances that have been given to date by EirGrid. It is, more importantly, a time for ordinary people to have their own voices heard and their concerns aired before the people who will decide whether or not this project will happen or not. EirGrid recognises that it cannot put its new infrastructure in place without the general acceptance of the people of Meath, Cavan and Monaghan. However, with two sides so diametrically opposed to one another at this point, it is difficult to see where any common ground can emerge. Bord Pleanala has been set a difficult task one way or the other - whether this key piece of infrastructure is going to be built, and whether it will be underground or overhead.