Cross-Border

North-South Interconnector: Monaghan Councillors and TDs Unite Against EirGrid Plan, Seek Meeting With Ministers on Both Sides of the Border

At a special meeting after the October council meeting, councillors and Oireachtas members agreed the overhead line should not go ahead in its current form. They want it put underground and are calling on ministers north and south to come to Monaghan.

12 October 2026 · 2 min read

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Monaghan Town Hall on Dublin Street — Monaghan Town Hall, Dublin Street, 2016. Archive location photograph; not the site of the reported project. Eric Jones · CC BY-SA 2.0. Resized; cropped in layout.

Monaghan County Council's long-running opposition to the North-South Interconnector was put before the county's Oireachtas members this month, and the message from every party in the room was the same: the project should not go ahead in its current form, and the lines should go underground.

The special meeting took place after the council's monthly meeting on Monday 5 October. Northern Sound reported that there was unanimous agreement among councillors and Oireachtas members that EirGrid's proposal should not proceed as it stands.

What the interconnector is

The North-South Interconnector is EirGrid's proposed cross-border electricity link, and local opposition has centred on its planned overhead lines and pylons. Northern Sound notes that it has been a concern for Monaghan residents for almost two decades, with campaigns against the construction of pylons in the area dating back to 2007.

A call for ministers to come to Monaghan

A proposal at the meeting called for members of each political party to write to the relevant ministers on both sides of the border, asking them to come to Monaghan and discuss the issue with the council.

Fine Gael councillor Sean Gilliland told Northern Sound that successive ministers and governments on both sides of the border have not had the will to make undergrounding happen in the county. He said he wants a meeting with ministers so that the "voices of discontent" of Monaghan people can be heard.

Sinn Féin councillor Noel Keelan said that because the council had been unable to meet Minister Darragh O'Brien, it was important for the county's TDs and senators to raise local concerns directly in Leinster House and with EirGrid officials. Cllr Keelan told Northern Sound that undergrounding is the only way the people of Monaghan will accept the development.

An all-island angle

Cllr Keelan also said the need for ministers from two jurisdictions to meet over a single electricity link brings into focus the case for a united Ireland. Speaking to Northern Sound, he argued it would make more sense to have one system for the whole island.

Why it keeps coming back

The interconnector is one of the most persistent issues on the council's agenda, and it cuts across party lines locally. The October meeting showed that this unity still holds: Fine Gael, Sinn Féin and other members backed the same position, and the Oireachtas members who attended agreed with them.

What has not changed is the gap between that local position and the project as planned. The councillors' strategy now is twofold: get the issue raised on the floor of the Dáil and directly with EirGrid, and get ministers from Dublin and Belfast into the same room in Monaghan. Whether either minister accepts the invitation is the next thing to watch.

Monaghan Brief will follow up on any response from the ministers or from EirGrid.