Claims by the ESB that it would be six to 10 times more expensive to put underground a planned 110 kilovolt power line linking Swords and Balbriggan, in north Co Dublin, have been challenged by a local action group.
Fingal for Underground Electricity Lines (FUEL), which was set up to oppose the scheme, has challenged the board's contention that this could lead to major increases in electricity bills and demanded it should produce evidence to back it up.
"If they can stand over their claim of 6-10 times more expensive, why will they not show us the evidence instead of repeating it mantra-like and expecting us to believe it just because senior management in the ESB say so", said FUEL's chairman, Mr Aidan Arnold. Mr Arnold also disputes another ESB claim that locating and repairing faults in underground cables could take weeks to repair. This was "an insult to their technical staff", he said, adding that breaks could be located "within seconds" using computer technology.
FUEL remains adamant that health risks associated with the electromagnetic fields of power lines "must be taken very seriously" despite assurances from the ESB that no evidence of such risks had emerged out of 12,000 studies carried out worldwide.
Mr Arnold said the board's planning application for the proposed overground power line contravenes Fingal County Council's development plan policy "to seek the placing underground of all electricity, telephone and TV cables wherever possible".
The council said this policy was "in the interests of visual amenity and public health". FUEL does not object to the route of the power line, which runs parallel to a new stretch of the M1 motorway. But it believes that 16 kilometres of high pylons "will be both visually destructive and pose a serious health risk".
The power line, for which a planning application was lodged last November, is seen by the ESB as essential to serve zoned industrial areas in north Fingal.
