Eirgrid could face stiff opposition to aspects of its €1bn project to import electricity from France, after announcing its preferred site in Co Cork for a major electrical converter station.

Some of the cabling for the part of the €930m Celtic Interconnector, from France to Ireland, may run along the former Midleton-Youghal railway.

People living in an East Cork village are concerned about plans which could disturb a site where dozens of British soldiers were executed by an IRA unit during the War of Independence.