Madam, - I was astonished at Minister Eamon Ryan's reported declaration that independent consultants told him that proposed cross-Border underground power lines were not technically feasible ( The Irish Times, December 17th).
I represented an appellant at an oral planning appeal in Cavan Town in April 2008 in which applicant-developer ESB was represented by solicitor and senior counsel and in which independent consultants and in-house consultants were called to give oral and written evidence.
One independent consultant - whose credentials ran to two pages - was called from New York to rebut arguments advanced by me concerning EMF (electro-magnetic fields). A second independent consultant from Wales on behalf of the ESB gave a slide- show presentation showing how power lines can and are placed underground.
All nine witnesses who appeared on the ESB's behalf were questioned by me and all acknowledged that (a) it was technically feasible to place power lines underground and (b) that all risks, whether real or imagined, concerning EMF would be eliminated by placing power lines underground. An Bord Pleanála has a full recorded transcript of the entire two days' oral evidence and a full record of all written submissions in its offices on public file ref. PL 02.224726.
It is my view that Minister Ryan is burying his head in the ground - where instead he ought to be burying the power lines. - Yours, etc,
LIAM MADDEN,
Chartered Architect,
Convent Road,
Longford.