Power link opponents trip the wrong switch

OBJECTORS to the proposed HVDC (high voltage direct current) link between Ireland and Britain claim the cables pose a health risk.

High voltage overhead lines may well be dangerous to health, but cables are not because the electric and magnetic fields are contained with the cable, and direct current is safer than alternating current because it cannot induce extraneous currents.

This is an essential project to allow Ireland to export and import power to and from Britain and, like wind turbines and the Corrib gas pipeline, it is necessary to combat global warming, to provide some degree of energy independence and as protection against peak oil, while posing virtually no health risk.