Minister for Energy Pat Rabbitte TD has announced that he is establishing an expert panel, chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice Catherine McGuinness, to oversee the preparation of reports on the best underground route options to compare with the Grid Link and Grid West high voltage power lines currently being designed.

Minister Rabbitte informed the Government that he will ask the expert panel to decide terms of reference for comprehensive, route-specific studies of fully undergrounded options for both Grid Link and Grid West. The panel will be required to ensure that the studies are complete, objective, and comparable to similar studies of overhead options for the two projects, and will report to the Minister in that regard. Both the overhead and underground options will be published side-by-side, in objective and comparable terms, before proceeding to the next stage of public consultation.

Minister Rabbitte said: "On the 3rd December last I told the Dáil that I recognised legitimate concerns about the impact of new transmission lines and other infrastructure on the landscape, the environment and on local communities.

"I also said that I expected EirGrid to fully engage with potentially affected communities, to examine impartially the case for all achievable engineering solutions and to undertake and communicate a well-informed, objective and authoritative analysis, impact assessment and pre-planning consultation. And I confirmed that, at the end of the then current phase of public consultation, I would respond on behalf of the Government to the issues raised.

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"Developing the electricity grid for our future economic prosperity is important but we cannot ignore the demands highlighted by community groups during the public consultation.

"Many respondents to the consultation process, while acknowledging the need for an electricity grid fit for purpose, are dissatisfied that there has not been a complete analysis of undergrounding as compared to overhead power lines. I agree that such a comparable analysis should be carried out at the direction of the independent expert panel."

The Minister also announced additional steps to be taken so as to address issues that arose in the consultation:

• EirGrid will be required to undertake the two studies, as determined by the independent panel of experts, which will take account of, inter alia, environmental (including visual amenity) impacts, technical efficacy and cost factors. The independent panel will have power to commission its own work if there is any perceived deficiency in the studies presented.

• The chairman of EirGrid will be asked to undertake a comprehensive assessment with a view to improving EirGrid's community engagement processes and procedures, having regard to the significant public concerns raised on this issue.

• A range of community gain measures for overhead options are being developed to address issues of visual impact and property devaluation.

• The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government will engage expert assistance to review and report on international developments on the potential health effects of electro-magnetic fields (EMF) emanating from transmission grid infrastructure.

• In future, the Minister will take questions in the Dáil on policy issues that arise in connection with Grid25, while technical and operational questions from public representatives will be responded to within seven days by EirGrid.

(CD/JP)