PYLONS CONTROVERSY – FG CONFIDENT DEPUTY CONLAN’S INTERVENTION WILL BEAR FRUIT!

The intervention made by Fine Gael TD for Cavan/Monaghan Sean Conlan with Taoiseach Enda Kenny to have the controversial EirGrid north-south electricity interconnector included in an independent review of undergrounding options for planned electricity infrastructure projects could yield positive results, the FG members insisted at Monday’s meeting of Monaghan Co Council.

The controversy over the exclusion of the north-south project from the parameters of the review announced last week was extensively debated, and a proposal was adopted from Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy, seconded by his party colleague Noel Keelan, calling on Minister for Energy Pat Rabbitte to reverse this decision – and on EirGrid to hold off on submitting their renewed planning application for the interconnector in this part of the country until the commission completed its work.

Colr Keelan told the meeting that he had been informed by EirGrid that morning that they still intended to proceed with their planning submission.

FG’s Hugh McElvaney said he had been assured by Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan – when the Minister attended the Local Authority Members Association conference staged in Monaghan Town at the weekend – that “every pressure” had been exerted on ….