Today, protesters planned to picket against Eirgrid’s €600m interconnector project between Wales and Meath. The protest was to take place in the town of  Rush Co. Dublin through which Eirgrid plans to run an underground High Voltage Direct Current Power Line.

A spokeswoman for the town said that they are not opposed to the project at hand but rather are concerned about the particular route which Eirgrid has chosen to run the power line. Eirgrid have offered a safety study to ease concerns but have also said that they cannot postpone the project until the study is completed.

An Eirgrid Spokeswoman has said: “We have repeatedly stated that EirGrid cannot incur the financial penalties that delaying works in Rush would cause as these costs would have to be passed to the electricity consumer to bear. We have managed to hold off works in Rush since July but now works need to commence.”

The current plan sees cables coming onshore at North beach in Rush before traveling underground through the main street of the town.

Campaigners want the interconnector to be rerouted through an estuary on the outskirts of the town.