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Ireland South Labour MEP Phil Prendergast who said this week EirGrid’s GridLink project, as it currently stands, is “untenable”.

MEP for Ireland South, Phil Prendergast, was even more outspoken about EirGrid's Gridlink project this week, saying that as it currently stands it "has little credibility" and is "untenable".

Speaking from Brussels on Tuesday in the wake of a report in the Irish Examiner, of a survey that showed that 75% of Government TDs living along the route believe the plan would damage the landscape, and more than half of them said they wouldn't live near them, the Labour party MEP said she wasn't the only dissenting voice in her party.

"Four out of five Labour TDs whose constituencies are affected by the plan have also revealed their worries," she pointed out, adding that she supports the view expressed by Labour Parliamentary Party Chairman Jack Wall who stated that an underground option should be considered. Deputy Ann Phelan is correct in saying local communities don't have any respect or confidence in EirGrid, the MEP further asserted.

She called on Minister Pat Rabbitte, in light of the health, environmental and tourism concerns, as well as what she termed "significant Government opposition from both coalition parties" to row back on EirGrid's proposals and consider an independent analysis by the EU of the potential effects of electromagnetic radiation.

The Labour party's outspoken comments will be grist to the mill of the many opposition groups against the project, as will the high number of Government TDs living in constituencies along the pylon route in Munster and Leinster saying they would not live near the proposed giant pylons or high voltage lines.

Any of those politicians planning on attending a big public meeting planned for Conna at the end of the month are likely to face some tough questioning. The meeting is being hosted by the Bride and Blackwater Anti-pylons group. Robert Duggan from the Pylon Alternative Alliance is the guest speaker. Anti-pylon groups from around the region are planning to attend the meeting, to which area TDs and MEPs are being invited. It'll take place in Conna Sports Complex on Friday, January 31 at 8pm.

In a letter to a national newspaper this week, Lismore resident, Martin Power, warned that it won't matter how vocal local politicians have been on the Gridlink project, the fact that their parties haven't listened to the people will work against them in the upcoming elections.

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