Anger at Eirgrid's sponsorship of Hay

Protesters against EirGrid’s plans for over 400 pylons across Meath, Cavan, Monaghan and Tyrone have expressed anger at the company’s sponsorship of the very successful Hay Festival in Kells.
The North East Pylon Pressure Campaign (NEPPC) expressed shock and disappointment at Kells Chamber of Commerce’s seeking and acceptance of sponsorship from the company.
In a statement issued this week that NEPPC said they had been inundated with calls from local community members, especially landowners, voicing their anger and their disappointment that many of the local businesses, whom they support on a daily basis, requested EirGrid’s presence as a main sponsor.
However, Cllr John Farrelly, President of Kells Chamber of Commerce said he had been promoting tourism in Meath for the best part of 20 odd years and the Hay Festival had been Kell's best opportunity to do something positive. He had been delighted to be associated with it.
 A spokesperson for EirGrid said they were approached by the organisers of the Hay Festival in Kells to sponsor the major literary event.
“EirGrid welcomed the opportunity to support a community level project and facilitate engaging debates on energy and the environment,” he said.
In its statement the NEPPC noted that to date there had been no objection from any of the elected representatives to EirGrid’s central sponsorship of this festival, in the heartland of the undergrounding campaign. 
Eirgrid has given notice of its intentions to restart the planning application to An Bord Pleanála for the Meath-Tyrone interconnector.
“It is an affront to the landowners of the North-East to assume that spending a large public relations budget in the region will buy the landowners acceptance of overhead transmission lines, which could be as close as 25 metres from their homes,' the NEPPC said in a statement.