DEAR SIR: I wish to clarify some of the misleading statements made by EirGrid in the Journal interview with Deborah Meghen last week. Ms Meghen states that ‘nowhere in Europe are there 400kv cables used underground’. This is a very misleading statement. Undergrounding, using the latest VSC HVDC technology, is rapidly expanding as a preferable alternative to overhead lines in Europe.

Between 2010 and 2011 alone over 670km of underground cable projects have been initiated in countries such as Germany, Sweden, Holland, France and Spain.

EirGrid itself has completed the east-west interconnector, which had approval for a 400kv underground cable (70km) and undersea cable (180km).

Furthermore, the latest €97 billion EU 10-year electricity network development plan, will involve the roll-out of 40,000km of electricity transmission lines, with as much as 10,000km (25%) of this being a HVDC underground cable.

Ms Meghen also states that there are no known health effects from overhead transmission lines. This statement is false. A significant body of research over the years has been carried out in relation to the health effects of electric and magnetic fields associated with extra high voltage lines.

Current scientific data now confirms that exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) increases the risk of leukaemia, particularly for children.

Additionally, increasing evidence shows that it is associated with an increased risk of miscarriage, brain tumours, Alzheimer’s and motor neurone disease.

Research in all cases urges precaution. The government-commissioned expert group on EMF stated that ‘as a precautionary measure, future power lines and power installations should be sited away from heavily populated areas to keep exposures to people low’.

It should be pointed out that this same report in 2007 recommended that baseline EMF data be collected in Ireland and that an agency responsible for EMF be established, neither of which has happened to date.

Ms Meghen claims that ‘the existence of transmission infrastructure by itself does not unduly influence property values’. Again, this is patently untrue.

Numerous international studies exist, and indeed real-life examples in this country, which document very clearly that significant property and land devaluation is caused by the presence of giant 50-metre high pylons carrying 400,000 volts of electricity. To state otherwise is a nonsense.

EirGrid should really desist from the propaganda strategy it is currently pursuing and instead deal with the facts regarding electricity transmission infrastructure. The world has moved on.

Technology is advancing. Undergrounding is a realistic option that is now feasible, affordable and acceptable. The refusal by EirGrid to publish its own costs for undergrounding or to factor into these costs socio-economic effects, such as land and property devaluation, impact on landscape, tourism, agriculture and communities, is a refusal to face reality.