A long-planned €350 million project to connect the electricity grids on both sides of the border is facing another legal challenge.
A group of around 150 farmers and landowners in counties Armagh and Tyrone are trying to overturn planning approval for more than 100 pylons to carry overhead cables for the north-south interconnector.
The 138km line will cross the border in Co Monaghan and then through Cavan to Meath, with more than 300 large pylons in the Republic and over 100 north of the border.
Planning permission for the 400kV overhead cables in the Republic was granted by An Bord Pleanála in 2016, despite strong opposition from landowners, farmers and local communities.
Four years later, the Department for Infrastructure at Stormont also granted full permission, a decision that was unsuccessfully challenged in the courts.
Campaigners in Northern Ireland have gone back to the courts.
Lawyers for the opponents told the High Court in Belfast this week that they represent the views of 6,500 people who live near the proposed 34km route the pylons will take through Armagh and Tyrone.
A judicial review is being taken by Safe Electricity Armagh and Tyrone (SEAT), challenging the decision to grant planning permission for the pylons and a huge substation on the outskirts of the village of Moy.
The planning permission is due to expire in the autumn, so a successful legal challenge could delay it for years.
Like opponents south of the border, SEAT claims the pylons would damage the environment, farming, tourism and pose a risk to people living close to them.
They argue that if the project is to go ahead the cables should be placed underground, something Eirgrid has said is not viable because it would require too much power being carried over too far a distance.
Eirgrid says the interconnector will lower electricity costs across the island, as well as ensuring the security of supply.
John Woods, a spokesman for the campaign group, has been trying to block the project for 17 years.
He has accused Eirgrid of using Northern Ireland as a “land bridge” to access electricity to power the huge number of energy hungry data centres in the Republic.
“We must preserve and protect our environment for ourselves and for future generations,” he said.
“We don’t need an interconnector in Northern Ireland, they need it in the Republic because they need access to more power. They are trying to use Northern Ireland as a land bridge to take power from Scotland.
“They should treat Northern Ireland and its people with a bit of decency and not try to misuse their power by imposing this on the farmers of Northern Ireland.”
Another of those taking part in the legal challenge is Fred Todd, a cattle farmer just a few kilometers outside Moy in Co Armagh.
Standing on the fields he has farmed for most of his 70 plus years, he points to where three large pylons are scheduled to be erected.
The village of Tullysaran is just a few hundred metres from the farm.
“It’s just not right,” he said, “it won’t just spoil the wonderful views in this area, they will cut right through an area with deer, birds of prey and cattle.
“People who live in the area are also worried about having such huge amounts of power being carried overhead. The whole community here is against this plan.
“We are not against it (the connector) being built, but we’re against the pylons and this antiquated way of conducting electricity. The technology is there to do things better.”
In March 2023, an independent review of the proposed connector backed the plan to build the infrastructure above ground.
Work on a huge substation that will be the starting point for the interconnector in Co Tyrone has been under way for three months despite the ongoing legal challenge.
Stormont’s Department for Infrastructure has given a legal commitment to carry out remediation works to return the site just outside Moy to its original condition if the legal challenge succeeds.
Sinn Féin rejected a suggestion that it is guilty of double standards on the issue.
The party has strongly opposed the use of pylons and overhead cables along the proposed interconnector route south of the border.
But the Department for Infrastructure at Stormont, which is defending the legal action against the use of pylons and overhead cables in Northern Ireland, is headed by a Sinn Féin minister, Liz Kimmins.
Darren O’Rourke, Sinn Féin TD for Meath East, one of the areas affected by the plan, said the connector must be built underground.
“Sinn Féin’s position is absolutely clear in relation to this project and it’s an all-island position, there is no contradiction in relation to it,” he said.
“Sinn Féin supports the delivery of the north-south interconnector, it’s an important piece of infrastructure, but it absolutely has to be delivered underground, in fact we believe that’s the only way that this project will be delivered.”
The System Operator for Northern Ireland, SONI, is responsible for the northern element of the project.
In a statement, a spokesperson said delivery of the interconnector is “vital for enabling Northern Ireland’s legal renewable energy and decarbonisation policy and targets, namely the Climate Change (Northern Ireland) Act 2022 and the Northern Ireland Energy Strategy”.
It added: “The project is critical for being able to both fully utilise existing renewable generation and planned new renewable generation in the future, as well as reinforcing the grid to accommodate increases in demand in Northern Ireland associated with economic growth and promoting more efficient operation of the Single Electricity Market.
“The north-south interconnector will also remove significant constraints on the Northern Ireland transmission grid, enabling Northern Ireland to use more of the renewable electricity it already generates.”
SONI said it handed the project over to NIE Networks in November last year and that construction has commenced.
