Mayo politicians have to make the 'hard decisions' and forget about parish pump and populism

Poor decision making by a 'small number' of Mayo councillors regarding the upgrade of the electricity supply line has restricted investment to the county according to some councillors.

A presentation on the update by EirGrid on the North Connacht 110kV project at the Claremorris/Swinford Municipal District meeting prompted some local councillors to criticise decisions made in the past to object to similar projects in the past.

In 2017, EirGrid decided to scale back its controversial €240 million Grid West transmission project to develop a 220kV line through north Mayo following protests regarding the number of pylons which would be needed.

It was replaced with the North Connacht 110kV project which will see the majority of the 59km of cable going underground from the Moy substation in Ballina to Tonroe substation in Ballaghaderreen.

Eoin Brockert, senior project manager with EirGrid told councillors that the project is expected to start early next year and will take 18 months to complete. He said the cost involved in the development will be 'multiples' of that of an overhead option.

While welcoming the project, which will see cable pass through Swinford town, some councillors said that public representatives had to make hard decisions when it comes to infrastructure and not take the populist option.

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Ballinrobe-based councillor Michael Burke said that it was important that the county has high levels of power in order to attract investment and criticised the previous objections to the GridWest project.

“We are facing a positive future with generating electricity in different ways because technology is moving forward every single week. Our problem is because of poor decisions which were made by a small number of councillors in the past and we are now restricted on what we can get out of Mayo. I hope that won't happen going forward,” he said.

Claremorris-based Independent councillor Richard Finn said that in the future politicians had to grasp the nettle when it comes to developing projects which may be controversial.

“We saw in the last five or six years we were forced to reduce the amount of power supplied in and out of Mayo on account of local pressures. This wouldn't happen in most countries where infrastructure like that is needed, nothing would stand in its way and politicians would grasp the nettle,” he said.

Fianna Fáil councillors Damien Ryan and John Caulfield also held similar viewpoints as their colleagues saying that power supply was crucial to the county.

“It is very important that things are done in a planned and proper manner but at the end of the day the networks have to be sustainable and the capacity to take in opportunities as they present themselves.

“If a county like Mayo is down and close to capacity in the power aspect then we will not be for consideration. It has to happen and we have to park the parish politics and the popularist because the populists and parish politics won't solve anything.

"We have to show leadership if it is in our own area and we will certainly do that. 

"It is time to get real about it and if we are crying for investment then we have to make the hard decisions and that is what we are here for,” he said.