North-South Interconnector
Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-29
============================================================

Neale Richmond (FG), Dublin Rathdown

There are two or three critical issues to this. The Senator mentioned different expert opinions. If this was just a one-off, it was the first time we were discussing it, there were simply two different opinions and you would choose between the two, that would be one thing but this has been going on for 14 years. There has been repeated independent expert opinion, which has been accepted. That is the stage we are at.
When it comes to the level of engagement, community engagement is deliberately in place for EirGrid. It has written to all affected landowners and is happy to meet and engage with them. That is its responsibility. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has tasked it with that and that is what the legislation allows for.
The solution to this discussion lies in that level of community engagement. It is not about reopening the debate, but making sure that the project is done properly and appropriately, answers the questions the Senator highlighted and makes sure that compensation is delivered. There are a couple of matters we are still waiting for in terms of discharge of agreement from the local authorities. I am happy to write to EirGrid to say that is where the level of engagement must happen.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-09-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-29