‘Nothing has changed on the ground’

The Supreme Court has upheld approval for the controversial north-south electricity interconnector.

The five judges dismissed an appeal by North East Pylon Pressure Campaign Ltd (NEPPC) and a local landowner, Maura Sheehy this morning (Tuesday), following the High Court's August 2017 decision rejecting their challenge to the Board’s permission.
EirGrid's interconnector project comprises a 138-kilometre 400kV overhead line linking the existing substation in Woodland Batterstown, with a planned substation in Turleenan, Co Tyrone.
EirGrid said today that the decision brings the legal process in the Republic to a close, but anti-pylon campaigners said the ruling is technical in nature and does not change any of the issues for EirGrid and their partners ESB.
“The critical issue of access to landowners’ property could not be assessed because access routes were never submitted for approval to An Bord Pleanála,” said NEPPC spokesperson, Aimee Tracey.
In agreeing to hear an appeal, the Supreme Court said the case raised issues of general public importance.
Those included whether An Bord Pleanála (ABP) was lawfully designated by the State as a “competent authority” under the 2013 Project of Common Interest (PCI) EU regulation and whether its functions in that role created a conflict in respect of its role in approving the proposed development.
The State is required under the regulation to designate “one national competent authority” to be responsible for facilitating and coordinating the permit-granting process for projects of common interest. The regulation obliges a project promoter to facilitate public participation and report to the competent authority on the results of that.
All five judges agreed, with Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan's judgement, the appeal should be dismissed.
While four of the judges disagreed with Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan’s view that the board was not lawfully designated a competent authority because the designation was not done by primary legislation, all five agreed the Board’s approval decision was valid and unbiased.
NEPPC submitted seven issues in its Supreme Court application.
“The ruling today is very much related to the An Bord Pleanála (ABP) approval. It does not address or have any impact on the ongoing issued facing the project,” said Aimee Tracey.
“The two key issues in relation to the challenges ahead - those related to access to landowners’ properties and the impact of Brexit on the future status of the project- were not considered by the Court. Why? Because the planning application did not request permission for the 584 access routes and hence no permission was granted. And because at the time of the approval Brexit had not materialized.
“So, nothing changes on the ground. ABP imposed conditions in respect of access, requiring the submission of a construction and environmental management plan, a traffic management plan and a waste management plan to the relevant planning authority, to incorporate mitigation measures and details of the intended construction in respect of each temporary access route, prior to the commencement of development. Not one single access route has been submitted to local authorities. Not one single official access route has been sent to any landowner. No agreement for access exists at landowner level.
“Any attempts by ESB and EirGrid to request the local authorities to vary of the conditions imposed will be challenged by landowners’, one by one, at the appropriate time,” she concluded.
EirGrid welcomed the decision which “draws the legal process to a close in Ireland.”
Liam Ryan, Director of grid development and interconnection at EirGrid, said: “The North South Interconnector is the most important infrastructure project on the island of Ireland today. It will help deliver real benefits to domestic and commercial electricity consumers and will make a significant contribution to helping Ireland achieve its climate change commitments.
“We are pleased that the project has now cleared all of the planning and legal hurdles in Ireland and we are hopeful that the same can be achieved in Northern Ireland in the coming months.”