Eirgrid upsets north Mayo communities

Wind farms, pylons and electricity substation ‘too much pain to bear’


Eirgrid upsets Moygownagh and Kilfian communities

Ciara Galvin

COMMUNITIES nearest to the preferred route corridor for the EirGrid Grid West Project are being asked to “bear too much of the pain”, according to Eddie Farrell a member of Moygownagh-Kilfian Community and Landscape Protection Group.
Speaking to The Mayo News, Mr Farrell said that small parishes ‘will become the epicentre of the renewable energy industry in Ireland’, adding that people in the area are worried about proposed plans for a number of industrial-sized wind farms and ‘one of the largest electricity substations in the country’ planned for Moygownagh.
Mr Farrell said it is not just the substation that is the issue for communities, but the power lines coming out of the substation and the pylons.
“Lines could be going through my parents’ farm. It’s friends and neighbours you are dealing with,” he explained.
Moygownagh-Kilfian Community and Landscape Protection Group wants the proposed plans for the wind farms, substation and pylons to be cancelled, or at a minimum replaced with proposals acceptable to the communities, and is planning to lobby An Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister for Energy Pat Rabbitte. The group does not plan to engage with EirGrid, Mayo County Council or county councillors.
Mr Farrell stated that a proposed meeting about EirGrid by Cllr Seamus Weir would only ‘once again give EirGrid a forum to get its message across’.
Taking inspiration from the North-East Pylon Organisation, which is opposing the Meath-Tyrone 400kV power-line project, the group hopes to create a ‘super group’ with all the other groups along the proposed route.
Looking ahead, Mr Farrell acknowledged that the group faces a David and Goliath-type struggle. “It’s a small place up against the might of the state,” he said.
Mayo County Council are too hold a special meeting next Monday to discuss the EirGrid Grid West Project.