By Gillian McVeigh
gillian@monaghanpost.com

THE Mayor of County Monaghan, Cllr Gary Carville, raised the issue of the proposed EirGrid Interconnector and pylons across the mid and south Monaghan areas, while on a visit to the EU Institutions with a delegation of members of Monaghan County Council last week.

Mayor Carville highlighted the issue in a meeting with Una Dixon, Energy Attaché at the Irish Permanent Representation to the EU. Mayor Carville stated that there was much unease in County Monaghan at the proposal to place the network cables of 400 KV lines over ground.

Mayor Carville stated that the level of consultation entered into by EirGrid had been nothing short of a farce and he doubted the true independence of the Study being commissioned by Minister of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan TD. Mayor Carville wanted to know what level of comfort, if any, the people of County Monaghan could take from any EU legislation on the matter.

In reply, Ms Dixon said that she was aware of Eirgrid’s proposals and of the Government study but she was not able to pinpoint any EU legislation or framework which would mandate the Irish Government and Eirgrid to place the lines underground. Mayor Carville replied by stating that the people of County Monaghan were fighting a major battle at a number of levels and this would inevitably include the EU, to ensure that the danger to the health of the people and the landscape of the area were averted.

Other contributors on the issue at the meeting included the Deputy County Mayor, Cllr Jackie Crowe and Cllr Seamus Coyle.

Speaking this week, Mayor Carville said that he and the other members of the delegation highlighted to the Irish Government energy representative, the depth of feeling on the issue and called for the Irish Government to use whatever EU protocol or mechanism they could to save the people and the landscape of County Monaghan from the horrors of pylons and heavy lines.

“This issue is not going to go away”, he said. “The Government and its Statutory Agencies and quangos, including Eirgrid, will have to listen to the people whom we represent”.