By the end of the year, Eirgrid will identify one proposed underground and one proposed overground route for its €500m upgrade of the electricity network from Cork to Wexford to Kildare.

The just-published terms of reference for the pylon commission state that electricity transmission operator Eirgird is to prepare a report for the independent panel on the various overhead and underground options for the planned pylon projects in the West and South.

The cancelling of an agreement with the UK to export wind energy and the shelving of the 40 wind farms in the midlands show that our renewable energy policy is over-ambitious.

Energy Minister Pat Rabbitte has played down a suggestion that concerns about power lines for the North-South interconnector may form part of a review of Eirgrid projects.