In a statement this week the North East Pylon Pressure grouping said three major messages came loud and clear from the attendance of over 300 people at a meeting in Kells recently.

The statement reads: ‘Firstly, there is deep frustration and anger amongst the people of the North-East, despite their full public participation and engagement in the Oral Hearing process, that they have been met by a semi-state company who have shown total disregard for their duties and responsibilities to the very public that they are charged with serving. It is unacceptable that  EirGrid, who through the taxpayer had access to unlimited resources and consultant expertise, could be allowed to submit such a deficient and inadequate application, then withdraw it whenever it suited, and then walk away with no apparent accountability or penalties. This is an injustice to the people of the North-East, and to the public consultation process.

2. Our elected representatives cannot stand idly by and ignore EirGrid’s behaviour. NEPP calls on our public representatives to meet with EirGrid and demand that appropriate costs are returned to the people of the North-East. Aimee Treacy, chairperson of NEPP said, “EirGrid has a moral obligation to reimburse the public participants and voluntary groups for their reasonable costs. Ignoring this fact of life will only serve to alienate the public even further from the democratic process and will harden our resolve in vigorously opposing this project. We again call on our elected representatives, including our two Ministers in this region, Ministers Dempsey and Smith, to see to it that the public are properly represented on this issue.”

3. The contributors from the floor on the night were clear and unanimous –undergrounding needs to be taken seriously by EirGrid as the practical solution for this project. NEPP received unanimous support for continuing the campaign in order to achieve this objective. “The confrontational approach taken by EirGrid and its unfounded insistence on using large pylons has a very low likelihood of making constructive progress in upgrading the national grid in a realistic timeframe,” said Chairperson Aimee Treacy.

The North East Pylon Pressure (NEPP) campaign group believe that new giant pylons and high voltage overhead lines are inappropriate in the North East.   Numerous advanced and more practical options exist. Since our campaign began, NEPP has amassed international and national data and research in support of our case for undergrounding.’