Pylon protestors vindicated

Pylon protestors feel vindicated


EirGrid to examine underground option

Áine Ryan

PYLON protestors have said they feel vindicated by EirGrid’s U-turn regarding the possibility of under-grounding its proposed high-capacity power line in the west. That is the view of former Fine Gael councillor Seamus Weir, now an Independent, who told The Mayo News last night that if EirGrid is serious and sincere about considering an underground option for its plans to build a new high-capacity power connection in north and east Mayo, it must suspend plans for its controversial overhead option until the proposed alternative is fully researched.
Cllr Weir, who is based in Knockmore, resigned from Fine Gael earlier this year over the project – a project that led to huge community outcry and a series of public protests.   
“The people in my area – from farmers to different community groups – stood strong and signed the petition telling EirGrid they couldn’t come in on their lands or property. I think the people will be happy about this decision provided there is proper consultation this time. However, I am very concerned that they are still ploughing ahead with the overground option. They should be stopping this until the underground option is fully researched,” Cllr Weir said last night.
He was responding to a briefing in Castlebar yesterday by Eirgrid’s Chief Executive, Fintan Slye, who confirmed that he expected that a comprehensive report on both the overground and underground options would be submitted later this year to the Government-appointed independent expert panel, and then, subject to its approval, published for public consultation.
Mr Slye confirmed that in January the company made a commitment to examine the underground alternative ‘in recognition of the fact this option hadn’t undergone detailed analysis’.
“Over the coming weeks we will be asking the people of the west to review the work we have done to develop this underground route option and also proposed amendments to the overhead route corridor, and to provide us with their feedback on both,” Mr Slye said.
The overhead pylons route has been estimated to cost €240 million. The cost of the underground alternative is not available yet.
Mr Slye said that the first step was to evaluate and assess the underground option according to the terms of reference - under costings, technical and environmental headings - stipulated by the independent expert panel. The remit of the expert panel was to ensure that this option was researched comprehensively and ultimately presented side-by-side with the overhead route option, he said.

Cost factor
SPEAKING on Newstalk yesterday, Minister Pat Rabbitte dismissed claims that  the proposed underground route was merely a box-ticking exercise by EirGrid.
However, he acknowledged that cost would be a big factor in the decision to opt for the underground route rather than the overhead pylons route.
“If the [underground] route costs three times more ... then my personal view is that we can’t afford that. I would ask taxpayers to tell me why it is … that Ireland in its straitened economic circumstances is supposed to put those cables underground.
“Protesters have been saying to me they want to see a fair comparison. They are now getting a fair comparison and I hope that they would put on their other hats as taxpayers and electricity bill payers and compare the two,” Mr Rabbitte said.
On the other hand, Mr Slye told The Mayo News yesterday that ‘there was no sense that the expert panel will have to adhere to costs as an overriding factor’.
Meanwhile, Independent MEP Marian Harkin said any cost-benefit analysis needed to place as much emphasis on factors such as landscape and health as it did on the cost of materials and installation.
Mayo Campaigner Dermot McHale, who addressed Mayo County Councillors last year as part of a community delegation and, moreover, vowed to go to jail rather than have a pylon in his back yard, said last night that he was ‘very sceptical’ of this U-turn.
“Grid West originally said they couldn’t develop an underground cable because they needed breaks in the line for all the industry that would be established along the line, but now all of a sudden the point-to-point is feasible,” Mr McHale said.
He did say, however, that he welcomed the fact that they were researching the underground option and, indeed, that his gripe was with the Government’s energy policy and not EirGrid, whose job it was to develop transmission lines.

Preferred routes
THE proposed corridors for both options run from Moygownagh, in north-west Mayo, to the existing sub-station near Flagford in Co Roscommon. The preferred route for the underground cable would run mainly along local and regional roads between Crossmolina and Ballina, down the east side of Lough Conn, north-east of Foxford and north of Charlestown, onto Ballaghaderreen and Frenchpark and on to the Flagford substation area, south-west of Carrick-on-Shannon. It is 113 kilometres long and will involve eleven river crossings and one railway crossing.
It has been put forward after consultation with local authorities in Mayo, Roscommon and Galway as well as the National Roads Authority and other relevant agencies.

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