The North-South Interconnector should be put overground in order to ensure its long-term viability, according to EirGrid’s CEO Mark Foley.

Speaking to Morning Ireland on RTÉ, Foley said: “We strongly recommend that the lines should be put overground.

“If you put an underground high-voltage DC cable into the system, it will fail.”

Foley was responding to a recent report released earlier this week which pointed to putting the interconnector underground as a “credible” option.

Lines should be put overground

Foley dismissed the research as not in line with the proposed plan for the connector.

“The emphatic recommendation is that the AC electronic line is the best way of the meeting the Island’s needs,” Foley said.

In August, opponents to overhead lines lost a legal challenge to the projects planning permission.

Foley also highlighted a separate report released by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment which indicated that compensation rates paid to landowners for disruption caused during building work was “quite generous”.

“There is a compensation system that is agreed between Eirgrid and the Irish Farmers Association,” Foley said.

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