Northern Ireland faces court case over plan for north-south electricity grid

An ambitious €350m (£299m) plan to connect electricity grids across the island of Ireland is heading for the high court after a challenge brought by campaigners claiming Northern Ireland is being used as a "whipping boy" to feed Ireland's energy-hungry data centres.

- Lisa O'Carroll

An estimated 150 landowners representing 6,500 residents have called on the Northern Ireland minister for infrastructure, Liz Kimmins, to suspend the construction of more than 100 pylons over land in Armagh and Tyrone until a judicial review, due to start tomorrow, has been completed.

The legal challenge is the latest delay on the north-south interconnector, which was conceived in 2006 as part of the post-peace collaboration between Belfast, Dublin and London.

Construction preparation on the pylon network has already begun but planning permission is due to expire in the autumn. A successful legal challenge could set back plans by years.

John Woods, the founder of Armagh-based Linwoods Health Foods who heads the campaign for safe electricity in Armagh and Tyrone (Seat), said the landowners want the cables placed underground as they have been in sections of the network in the republic.

Their high court action centres on what they claim are breaches of planning compliance rules.