Bord Gáis will connect 11 towns in the midlands and west to the gas grid in a politically sensitive expansion programme beginning next month. The selection of towns to benefit from the biggest expansion of the gas system since the Kinsale field was discovered in the 1970s takes place in the run-up to the general election.
It is understood Bord Gáis is close to finalising plans for two new pipelines which will link thousands of homes and businesses to the network. The first, linking Dublin, Galway and Limerick, will be complete by the end of next year.
A separate link to Galway from the Mayo coast will bring Corrib field gas into the grid. Clearance to start construction of the first pipeline was received last month, and the go-ahead for the Corrib connection is believed to be imminent.
It is understood the towns most likely to be connected to the first pipeline are: Enfield, Co Meath; Mullingar and Athlone, Co Westmeath; Tullamore and Clara, Co Offaly; Ballinasloe and Galway, Co Galway; and Ennis, Co Clare.
The choice of such towns is likely to please senior Government figures through whose constituencies the pipeline will travel.
Contrary to reports which suggested no towns would be linked to the grid on the Corrib pipeline, it is expected that Castlebar and Westport in Co Mayo and Athenry in Co Galway will be connected.
Yet large towns in the north-west will have to wait. The Government said last year the region should be connected, but after the current developments. Bord Gáis's position is that this would be viable only if the State paid it a subsidy to provide the gas.
