'I will enforce planning laws' Laois CEO addresses EirGrid substation fears

The Laois County Council CEO has assured councillors and a rural community battling against the construction of a major electricity sub station, that all planning and environmental laws will be enforced upon EirGrid.

Speaking at the February council meeting, John Mulholland said they want the scheme at Coolnabacca done strictly in accordance with laws.

“Our role is to ensure there is compliance. We are the only line between the community and the developer and we are taking that role very seriously. We have deployed people from planning and fire and will continue to,” he said.

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“All we have to go on is the statutory approval documents that An Bord Pleanála furnished and that are now in place sand give legal legitimacy to the project. Whether one has any confidence in An Bord Pleanála or EirGrid is not a matter for us.

“When you're talking about a 500mpa transformer, I'd have taken that there was a general sense of knowledge that it does contain oil as a lubricant, as a coolant. There are many of them in the county, there is one beside O'Moore Park. Checking with our own emergency department, we haven't any record of anything going wrong over any number of decades,” Mr Mulholland said.

He said that oil was referenced “throughout” an Bord Pleanála's decision to grant approval although the quantity of 300,000 litres was not mentioned.

The CEO said that they reserve the right to ask for additional measures.
He said he would be “very anxious” to get confirmation from An Bord Pleanala that use of another gas needs more permission, as Cllr Aisling Moran claimed she was told by the board.

Four councillors had tabled a joint motion to the meeting, asking the council as an enforcement authority, close the Eirgrid site until the planning for it is reviewed.

Cllr Moran with Cllrs Padraig Fleming, Aidan Mullins and Ben Brennan call for a halt to do a “full and thorough investigation into the non-disclosure of 300,000 litres of oil over the aquifer on this environmentally sensitive site”.

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Cllr Moran claimed that a senior council planner told her it was “a self regulating project”.
“That makes no sense. All those reports, the EIS, are null and void because no oil was mentioned,” she said.

Cllr Mullins had claimed EirGrid had a “casual disregard” for the planning process, while Cllr Fleming said that oil tanks stored on top of water were undisclosed and were “volatile”.

Members of the Ratheniska Timahoe Spink Substation Action group attended the meeting.

It followed a meeting held in December between Laois County Council, local TDs, EirGrid and the action group.

EirGrid has planning permission to build reinforced power lines and the substation, which the ESB says is required to "address problems related to the quality of supply across Laois, Carlow, Kildare and Wicklow and Kilkenny", which are "starting to become critical".

The ESB expects the project to be completed and live by 2025. EirGrid has previously broken planning laws on-site by starting to build pylons with no permit, which the council ordered them to undo after locals reported the unlawful development.