DONEGAL residents are preparing to dig underground channels on their own land as part of a campaign against a new high-voltage electricity power line across a remote landscape in the Gaeltacht.
A meeting of more than 100 environmental lobbyists in Lettermacaward, Gweebarra, Co Donegal, drew up a list of protest plans against a network of high wooden poles and steel pylons in the €25 million project.
The meeting organised by the Gweebarra Conservation Group on Saturday night was told of the tunnel plan.
Patricia Sharkey from the Donegal Alternative To Pylons group said Donegal had veteran tunnellers.
She said: “Just as the protesters did in Carrickmines and Rossport, there will be tunnels dug and some have already been dug along this proposed route.”
The ESB and Eirgrid are expected to start work in the autumn on a Y-shaped line running 66km from Binbane, outside Tánaiste Mary Coughlan’s home village, Frosses, to Letterkenny with a 33km offshoot going via Glenties to Gweedore.
The project, which has planning permission, is one of a series of regional upgrades by the ESB/ Eirgrid over coming years as part of a strategy to double the capacity of its network.
The lobby group claims the Glenties-Gweedore spur will create major environmental damage, which could be avoided if the line was installed underground alongside the N56. But the ESB says a below-ground line is not feasible along that route.
Protesters plan a series of demonstrations outside the Dublin offices of Minister for Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan.
They have started a list of landowners who have committed themselves to banning Eirgrid from their farms, and legal action is also being considered.
The campaigners are also protesting against wind farms planned for the same area.