Pylon protesters putting Ireland’s recovery at risk, says top engineer

One of the country’s top engineers has warned anti-pylon campaigners that they are putting the country’s recovery at risk by objecting to the Gridlink project.

Engineers Ireland director general John Power said a “strong infrastructure was a foundation for economic prosperity”, and that he strongly backed the expertise of EirGrid, adding: “We second-guess these experts at our peril.”

Objectors to the Gridlink project are calling for the powerlines from Cork, Wexford, and Kildare to be buried underground so that pylons do not compromise the landscape, the value of land and houses, or pose a risk to health.

EirGrid said abandoning the corridor of 43m-high pylons for an underground powerline would triple the cost of the €500m project.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio, Mr Power strongly backed EirGrid, pointing to the electrical infrastructure of the 11 major economies in Europe where just 1.5km of every 100km of the electrical grid have been lain underground.

“This is the reality of what is happening in prosperous economies,” said Mr Power. “We’re not a prosperous economy, we do need job creation, we can’t do it on our own. We need foreign direct investment and foreign direct investment needs water, roads, communications. If we don’t have this, we aren’t going to create jobs here.”

He pointed to the campaign that was orchestrated against the Corrib gas line, saying it had caused delays of 10-12 years in the project.

“We have to create an atmosphere where foreign direct investment is welcome here,” said Mr Power. “If we don’t have a strong electrical infrastructure, we won’t attract jobs. Large employers always locate next to strong electrical infrastructure.”

According to EirGrid, the project will aim to keep the pylons 50m away from dwellings. The corridor of 400kV pylons will run over a distance of up to 280km.

EirGrid is currently evaluating the 35,000 submissions made to it as part of the Gridlink public consultation process, which ended last week. Officials will then draw up a report for Energy Minister Pat Rabbitte.

Mr Rabbitte expects that by the end of the month he will be able to make a statement to the Dáil on the report.

The company hopes that it can announce its preferred route for the Gridlink project in June.