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Farmers at Muff outside Kingscourt, Co Cavan interviewed about their views on proposed N-S interconnector. Pictured at Loughanlea are Eugene Lambe (front) and back from left: Martin Fitzsimons, Paul Reilly, Charlie Clarke, Kevin Smith, Eugene Reilly and Michael Farrelly. / Barry Cronin
Farmers at Muff outside Kingscourt, Co Cavan interviewed about their views on proposed pylons. Eugene Lambe and Charlie Clarke look over towards Muff primary school and church. / Barry Cronin
Charlie Clarke stands on his laneway where he says trucks are expected to drive to build pylons. / Barry Cronin
Paul Reilly and Martin Fitzsimons look over towards Muff primary school and church. / Barry Cronin
Eugene Reilly, who will have a pylon on his land. / Barry Cronin.
On the road between Loughanleagh and Muff in Co Cavan there is a sign that says “No cancerous pylons”.Opposition to the North-South interconnector, a proposed 400kV overhead line linking the electricity grids of Ireland and Northern Ireland, is strong in Ireland’s northeast counties.
On the road between Loughanleagh and Muff in Co Cavan there is a sign that says “No cancerous pylons”.
Opposition to the North-South interconnector, a proposed 400kV overhead line linking the electricity grids of Ireland and Northern Ireland, is strong in Ireland’s northeast counties.
Last December, An Bord Pleanála gave the go-ahead to EirGrid, the semi-state body responsible for developing Ireland’s electricity network, for the line in the Republic, but a decision on the Northern section of the project is not due until the end of 2017.
The line will run almost entirely through agricultural land in counties Meath, Cavan and Monaghan in the Republic – affecting 450 landowners – and counties Armagh and Tyrone in the North.
Last week, the Irish Farmers Journal met eight landowners in the Kingscourt area of Co Cavan, all of whom are in the path of the interconnector.
Charles Clarke, a suckler farmer, will have a steel tower structure (pylon) less than 100m away from his front door. “It will be right in the middle of my land, 80m away from my front door,” he said.
Each tower will be contained within a working area of approximately 900m2 and they will range in height from 26m to 51m over ground level.
Construction work will take place over a period of three years, during which farmers can expect to experience temporary loss of lands and interference with the day-to-day operation of the farm, according to An Bord Pleanála’s inspector’s report.
“They’re breaking up farms,” said Clarke’s next-door neighbour Eugene Lambe, who has a highly intensive operation of 60 dairy cows on 100ac and will be in the corridor of the overhead lines. “No money will compensate for that.”
Underground
The farmers want to see the line put underground. “They can put it under the sea,” said Lambe, referring to the east-west interconnector between Ireland and Britain.
However, EirGrid last week told the Irish Farmers Journal that placing the line underground would cost three times more than putting it overhead.
Compensation
Responding to the cost argument, Lambe said that EirGrid will probably end up spending more in compensation than it would by putting the line underground. “I don’t understand that argument,” he said.
EirGrid will be looking at compensation for farmers on a case-by-case basis, depending on the impact the construction work has on the farm.
In some cases, compensation will include payment for loss of crops or damage to land which is anticipated to occur for up to seven years.
Neighbouring beef farmer Michael Farrelly will have a pylon only 15m away from his cattle shed.
“I’m not at all happy about that,” he said. “If something goes wrong with the cattle, sure that’s my livelihood finished.
“People say we’ll be compensated, but it doesn’t matter how much money they give me,” he added. “I don’t want their compensation. It doesn’t matter how deep they go into their pocket. I want to be left the way I am.”
Radiation
For many of these farmers, the main concern is the possible link between high-voltage power cables and cancer-related illnesses.
The Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government currently has responsibility for policy relating to the health effects of radiation emitted from power lines like the interconnector.
In an article on its website, the Department references the finding of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which has concluded, on the basis of limited evidence in humans, that low-frequency magnetic fields are a possible human carcinogen.
“We’re not willing to take that chance. You cannot put a value on our health,” said Clarke.
Fight
The farmers have been fighting this battle for almost 10 years, ever since EirGrid first submitted a planning application for the interconnector to An Bord Pleanála in 2009.
They feel the only place this can be sorted out now is in Dáil Éireann.
“We have Fianna Fáil behind us now,” said Clarke. “They think they’re going to sort it out in the Dáil and that’s the only place it can be sorted out. We’ve done all we can.”
However, there is anger towards the alleged apathy of the current Government.
Civil disobedience
The only Fine Gael member praised by the farmers is Regina Doherty, the Government chief whip and TD for east Meath, who said last year that she would “back civil disobedience” from farmers over the interconnector.
“At least she was manly enough to talk out.”
So what does civil disobedience mean? One farmer told me that it means blocking access routes. It also means targeting structures when they’re built.
“It’s an overhead structure so we will have access to it,” he said. “We’ll end up in prison if we have to.”
It has been a long road to get to the stage of the process the interconnector is at now. But with An Bord Pleanála’s approval of EirGrid’s planning application last December, it seems the landowners’ battle is only just beginning.
Listen to the farmers' views in our podcast below:
Irish Farmers Journal analysis of county council data has shown that the number of unauthorised developments and the number of warning letters issued differs per county.
Some of the measures put forward in an attempt to curb the spread of the disease propose a clampdown on cow sales from high-risk herds, increased blood testing and reduced compensation.
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