asked the Minister for Energy the progress that has been made in the restoration of the North-South electricity connector; and when the connector will be in operation.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - North-South Electricity Connector.
1.
I regret to say that no progress has been made in restoring the connector, which has been put out of action in the South Armagh area. This has caused considerable losses to electricity consumers in all parts of the country. The Deputy may be assured that both electricity authorities concerned will do whatever is feasible to get the connector operational again.
Is the Minister satisfied that there is a general interest in Northern Ireland to have it restored because of its substantial benefit to that area? Does he agree that we had different other pieces of infrastructure in that area, bridges, roads, and so on, and that if the same attitude had been taken they would not have been restored, which would have been bad from the point of view of communications between the two jurisdictions?
There are two aspects to the question. One relates to the Northern Ireland authorities, and from the information available to me I am satisfied that there is willingness on their part to have the inter-connector restored. The Deputy will be aware that the inter-connector was blown up on six occasions, always just north of the Border, the last occasion being 22 September 1975 when extensive damage was caused. Regrettably, the best information I have on the security situation suggests that it would be very difficult to reconstruct the inter-connector now, despite the willingness of both authorities to do so.