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Joy Barry, EirGrid, Fermoy Mayor Olive Corcoran and Michael Moore, an engineer with EirGrid, pictured at the public information day held in Corrin Event Centre, Fermoy on Tuesday. Photo: Ellen Lynch

The public information day hosted by EirGrid at Corrin Event Centre in Fermoy on Tuesday had the largest attendance of any of the company's public consultation sessions, EirGrid engineer Michael Moore told The Avondhu.

"Its been the busiest to date at this stage, we've had between 190 and 200 people at each one we've held in other areas but there's been 160 people through here already today," he said on Tuesday. That was 5.30pm and, with two and a half hours to go, he was expecting many more to drop by before the finish time of 8pm.

At this stage of the proposed €500 million project to route a new high voltage overhead power line through Cork, Wexford and Kildare, EirGrid has identified a number of feasible 1km wide route corridors and it was these that people from across north Cork were eager to see. The detailed maps on display allowed them to check how close the proposed routes were coming to their homes and property and it gave people the opportunity to discuss any queries or concerns with EirGrid personnel.  

The Grid Link Project is designed to secure future electricity supply for Munster and Leinster. Tuesday's public consultation day in Fermoy was part of a 12-week consultation process undertaken by EirGrid, which included three weeks of public open days.

INFORMATION AVAILABLE

Anyone who was unable to attend Tuesday's information session can access all information on the project, including reports and mapping, online at www.eirgridprojects.com/projects/gridlink. The information is also available at public libraries and council offices.

EirGrid is still taking feedback from people and will do so up until November 26th. The company says that the project is at an early stage and the identification of feasible corridors and substation sites is a key opportunity for public input as no decisions have been made regarding the route of the 400K overhead line. The company will then review and consider all the feedback received and identify the least constrained corridor and substation sites. The least constrained corridor will be the best option from a technical, environmental, community and economic perspective within which the overhead line can be routed.

Feedback can be posted to The Grid Link project manager, EirGrid, PO Box 12213, Glenageary, Co. Dublin or e-mailed to gridlink@eirgrid.com

UPCOMING STAGES

Following stage two of the project which is to evaluate options, a process that is expected to be complete by mid 2014, stage three will be to confirm the design. A planning application will be prepared by late 2015 or early 2016 and construction is envisaged between 2017 and 2020.

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