Mass rally to push for powerline rethink
Describing the situation as worse than the case of the Rossport Five, Joe Burke of the Bantry Concerned Action Group (BCAG) said he is hoping the weight of public opinion expressed by the large numbers expected to attend the rally, will force the ESB to accept that it must look at burying the cables underground.
Today, five farmers who have been protesting against a 14km overhead powerline are to appear in the High Court where the ESB is seeking injunctions to prevent them from blocking access to their lands.
The ESB has a contract to erect the 38KV line from the private wind farm to a sub-station at Ballylickey. It also has a court order allowing it onto lands to erect the power line. But the BCAG has been blocking ESB crews from several farms in the area for several weeks.
An ESB spokesman said the dispute is costing the company €15,000 a day.
The five who are due to appear in court, Susan Kingston, Jack Kingston, Tadhg Coughlan, John Keane and Mary Keane are members of BCAG which represents over twenty farms. They are concerned at the potential health risks of the powerlines being kept above ground and are also protesting against the ESB being able to enter their lands without permission.
According to BCAG, the powerline is to provide a grid connection for a windfarm being developed by local businessmen Bob Murnane and Denis O’Shea and it claims Murnane and O’Shea have issued a separate civil summons against 23 named individuals from the group seeking damages of €1.75m for losses resulting from delays in the project to date.
“BCAG has not objected to the windfarm,” a group spokesman said. “But it wants the powerline put underground as is common practice throughout Europe.”
