Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 March 2015
557. Deputy Seán Conlan asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if the Tobin report was used in assessing whether it was feasible to have the North-South interconnector project put underground; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10119/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraAn Independent Expert Panel (IEP) was established in January 2014 to oversee the integrity of the process being undertaken by EirGrid to report on comprehensive, route-specific studies of overhead and underground options for both the Grid Link (GL) and Grid West (GW) projects. On 2 May 2014, the IEP finalised the Terms of Reference for the studies and published the Terms of Reference on 7 May 2014.
While the North South Transmission Line project (N/S) is outside of the IEP's Terms of Reference, the IEP did agree, on foot of a request by my predecessor, to provide an opinion on the compatibility of the methodologies to be employed on the GL and GW projects with what has already been done on the N/S project up to and including 2 May 2014, being the date that the Panel decided to examine the N/S project.
Having considered and discussed all of the material, the Panel issued a statement on 1 July 2014, indicating its unanimous opinion that, in all material respects, what had already been done on the N/S project is compatible with the methodologies now being employed on the GW and GL projects. While the Panel acknowledged that no two grid infrastructure projects are identical, and that some non-comparabilities are likely to arise when assessing the potential environmental impacts, technical efficacy and cost factors, the Panel was of the opinion that no material differences in the methodologies arise.
It is important to note that the Tobin report referred to in the Question relates specifically to the Grid West project and is one of several pieces of analysis undertaken at the request of the IEP. In other words, the Tobin report was undertaken within the methodologies being employed on the GW project in accordance with Terms of Reference set by the IEP.
