The 44-metre high pylons are coming, but as of now nobody is quite sure where they're going to be located. The organisation behind the pylons is Eirgid and they're presently working out a route for the pylons that will link Knockraha in east Cork with Kilcullen in Co Kildare.

In fairness to Eirgrid, they've spent a lot of time and money alerting the public about their plans, however, it's only in recent weeks that minds are being focused.

Minds were certainly focused in Burncourt Community Centre last Friday night when an approximately 100 strong crowd gathered to learn more about the project which Eirgrid views as a critical piece of infrastructure.

Any notion that the pylons can be 'tucked away' is completely unrealistic and ultimately a sizeable number of householders will have to adjust to living in close proximity to these massive steel structures. People in south Tipperary and more specifically Ballyporeen, Burncourt and Ballylooby are anxious that the pylons go elsewhere and this was the main theme at last Friday night's meeting.

In their favour is the fact that K2 (as the south Tipperary route is known) isn't the most direct route, in fact, Eirgrid would have to go substantially out of their way (as the crow flies) if this option is chosen. Another alternative would see the pylons redirected towards nearby Lismore in Co Waterford.

Keynote speakers in Burncourt were: Cllr Marie Murphy who lives in Clogheen, Ed Riordan, Clonmel-based auctioneer John Fitzgerald, farmer Jimmy Ryan and bee keeper, Aoife McGillycuddy.

All spoke against the pylons and urged everyone present to vigorously oppose the plans - the negative impact on tourism, possible health implications, noise pollution, environmental damage and the devaluing of land along the proposed route were all cited. Interested parties were urged to convey their views to Eirgrid before the November 26 deadline (The Gridlink Project Manager, Eirgrid, PO Box 12213, Glengeary, Co Dublin).

In his contribution Ed Riordan said Eirgids's plans were directly linked to proposals to dramatically expand the wind turbine sector (Eirgrid refute this). Mr Riordan also argued that along with Eirgrid, the only other agencies to make money from the pylons would be Bord na Mona and Coillte. He went on to conclude that he was deeply sceptical about Eirgrid's intentions especially given that they were exempt from the normal local authority planning process.

All the speakers thanked John Butler and members of Burncourt Community Council for facilitating the meeting. The Eirgrid e-mail is gridlink@eirgrid.com, there's also a low call number 1890 422 122.

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