January 7, 2014
England

Pylon protest groups join march in County Wexford

Padraig Byrne | Carlow People | 07 January 2014 | www.independent.ie

Carlow anti-pylon groups were well represented at a large scale protest against the proposed EirGrid Gridlink project which took place in Wexford on Sunday. The protest took place at Vinegar Hill, the famous site of one of the biggest battles of the 1798 rebellion and encouraged people from all of the affected counties to turn up and let their feet do the talking by taking part in a walk.

The protest is evidence of increased cooperation amongst anti-pylon groups all over the South East in a bid to prevent the project going forward. Cornelia McCarthy of ‘Save Our Heartland’, one of Carlow’s biggest anti-pylon groups, said it was important that all the areas help each other.

‘There is a united group in Carlow,’ said Cornelia. ‘We try to meet up at least once a month. But then we’ve also had one or two occasions where groups from all over the South East have met up. Mostly the groups are working independently on their submissions, but once the deadline passes on Tuesday, I’m sure there will be more time to get together and organise more things like Sunday’s protest. Each area will have its own distinct story and will bring that to the table as well as undertaking united action.’

Following an extension from EirGrid, today (Tuesday) is the final day for submissions on the Gridlink project. Cornelia says that, for the majority, the reaction across Carlow has been great and she has urged everybody to make sure their voice is heard.

‘Everyone will have a significant knowledge of their own area,’ she said. ‘It is important that people submit on their own behalf. They will know things from their own area that aren’t known or mapped. It’s not too late and we would urge people to have their say.’

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/01/07/pylon-protest-groups-join-march-in-county-wexford/