The transmissions Manager of EirGrid Brendan Murray has been accused of deliberately misrepresenting the views expressed by an An Bord Pleanala Inspector in regard to possible health issues arising from Electro Magnetic Field (EMF) associated with high voltage overhead cables.
Independent MEP Marian Harkin, commenting on the granting of planning permission for the Laois-Kilkenny Electricity Reinforcement Project, said that it was totally unacceptable that a senior executive of EirGrid should totally misrepresent the views of an An Bord Pleanala inspector in an attempt to mislead the public on the issue of the association between EMF and childhood leukaemia.
“When an An Bord Pleanala Inspector in his report states ‘Considering all the evidence together the WHO as well as other scientific panels classified magnetic fields as a possible cause of childhood leukaemia..... it appears that the proposed upgraded power line from Ballyragget to Kilkenny could have an adverse impact on those living closest to it in terms of magnetic field radiation’, how is it possible for a senior EirGrid official to claim that the ABP Inspector had stated that no health risk exists”, the Independent MEP said.
EirGrid’s Chief Executive Fintan Slye had already misrepresented the report of the Scientific Committee on Emerging & Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) on the association between EMF and childhood leukaemia and he was now joined in the misleading of the public on this issue by Mr. Murray, she said.
“How can anyone believe any information from EirGrid when they are so cavalier with the truth on this vitally important health issue and a major issue arises as to the veracity of the information to be provided to the assessment group chaired by former justice Catherine McGuinness which is to deal with the issue of the affordability of undergrounding the Grid 25 project”, Marian Harkin asked.
An organisation which had shown itself untrustworthy on an important issue such as health should not be unquestioningly entrusted with spending €3.2 billion on a new grid structure which had no justification in regard to energy demand for the foreseeable future, she said.
“There is an urgent and immediate need to review national energy policy and this is the job which should be given to the McGuinness Committee which, in turn, should take expert submissions from persons with extensive expertise in building transmission grids in Ireland and abroad”, Independent MEP Marian Harkin concluded.
