Protesters opposed to the construction of over 100 towering pylons along a 34 km stretch of the Armagh and Tyrone countryside to facilitate a North-South electricity connector demonstrated outside Belfast’s High Court today ( Wednesday 9th April).
Inside the High Court, proceedings were underway challenging several decisions made by the Department for Infrastructure regarding the substation development and planned structures.
The judicial review was brought by Safe Electricity Armagh and Tyrone (SEAT), which represents the concerns of approximately 6,500 local residents living in close proximity to the proposed overhead North-South Interconnector route.
An estimated 150 Northern Ireland landowners, primarily small farmers, could be affected by the proposed pylons, which would extend from Turleenan in County Tyrone through Armagh for 34 km before crossing the border into Meath, Cavan, and Monaghan for an additional 103 km.
Farmers and landowners insist that any connector infrastructure should be placed underground to avoid unsightly pylons that would transform the rural environment into an industrial zone.
Commenting on the widespread opposition to the plans and the belief that underground cabling is the only viable solution, John Woods, from SEAT said: “When the Meath-Kildare interconnector, spanning 70 km, was being planned, local opinions were considered, and the decision to run the cables underground proved to be the right option, and gained public support.
“The arguments justifying 34 km of unsightly pylons through Armagh and Tyrone do not stand up to scrutiny. To claim that undergrounding these cables would be too expensive ignores any objective evaluation of the impact overhead structures will have.
“The Government must acknowledge the irreversible damage these pylons would cause to the countryside, farming, and tourism businesses. Preserving and protecting our rural environment is a price worth paying.”
Since the interconnector was first proposed in 2006, SEAT has questioned both the necessity and value of the project.
Speaking outside the court, John Woods added: “The fundamental issue is the one-way flow of energy, where renewable energy generated in Northern Ireland is being used to sustain the Republic of Ireland’s data centres and wider economy.
“Despite claims that the North-South interconnector will reduce electricity costs, the reality is that it will not alleviate Northern Ireland’s high energy prices. Instead, it will enable even greater extraction of our renewable energy by EirGrid, further weakening our energy security.
“Northern Ireland’s renewable resources should benefit its own people first, not be siphoned off to power over 100 data centres in the Republic.”
