Supreme Court upholds approval for North South Interconnector

The Supreme Court has upheld planning approval for the southern section of the North South Interconnector.

Originally granted by An Bord Pleanala in December 2016, the approval was challenged in court by the group North East Pylon Pressure (NEPP).

Following judicial proceedings on the matter in the Highcourt, which were dismissed in August 2017, the judgement was appealed, leading to the sitting of the Supreme Court to rule on the matter yesterday (Tuesday, February 19).

Welcoming the decision, Eirgrid, the company behind the interconnector, issued a statement noting that the ruling draws the legal process to a close in Ireland.

The North South Interconnector is a “critical electricity grid development project which will link the grids between Ireland and Northern Ireland, providing security of supply, supporting decarbonisation and reducing the cost of wholesale electricity for consumers”, according to the firm.

Liam Ryan, director of grid development and interconnection at EirGrid, said:

“The North South Interconnector is the most important infrastructure project on the island of Ireland today.

“We are pleased that the project has now cleared all of the planning and legal hurdles in Ireland and we are hopeful that the same can be achieved in Northern Ireland in the coming months.”

Ruling ‘changes nothing’

According to the NEPP group, the Supreme Court ruling “changes nothing for Eirgrid or ESB”.

In a statement, the group said that the ruling today is “very much related to” the An Bord Pleanala approval in 2016.

It does not address or have any impact on the ongoing issues facing Eirgrid and ESB, according to the statement.

The two key issues in relation to the challenges ahead – those related to access to landowners’ properties and the impact of Brexit on the future status of the project – were not considered by the court.

The group believes that this is because the planning permission did not request permission for the 584 access routes, meaning no permission was granted.

In addition, Brexit had not materialised at the time of the approval, according to the group.

“Nothing changes on the ground. Not one single official access route has been sent to any landowner. No agreement for access exists at landowner level.

“Any attempts by ESB and EirGrid to request the local authorities to vary any of the conditions imposed will be challenged by landowners, one by one, at the appropriate time,” the group asserted.