Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 February 2014
443. Deputy Martin Heydon asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources when he expects to finalise the terms of reference for the independent commission reviewing options for Grid Link and Grid West; if he has considered the way local action groups can have an input into those terms of reference and the work of the commission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9735/14]
View answerOn 28 January last, in response to EirGrid’s recent public consultation process, I announced that I had appointed an Independent Panel of Experts, to be chaired by Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness, to decide the terms of reference for, and to oversee the integrity of a process to be undertaken by EirGrid to report on, comprehensive, route-specific studies of overhead and underground options for both the Grid Link and Grid West projects.
The outputs from those studies, which will be required to be complete, objective and comparable, will be published before proceeding to the next stage of public consultation on those two projects. The two studies will take account of environmental (including visual amenity) impacts, technical efficacy and cost factors. The Panel will have power to commission its own work if there is any perceived deficiency in the studies presented.
I met with the Chair of the Panel on 31 January 2014. I also met briefly with the full Panel on 10 February 2014 prior to the start of its first meeting to thank the members for undertaking the work. The Panel has now commenced its deliberations including settling the terms of reference to oversee the integrity of the process now being put into place. The Panel’s terms of reference will be published by the Panel once they have been agreed. Similarly, the Panel's position regarding submissions of material to it, and third party requests to meet with it, will also be published once the Panel has finalised and agreed its position on these matters.
