In 2009, an ad appeared in the Laois Nationalist announcing that Eirgrid were planning to construct new electricity pylons across part of the county and they were going to build an electricity substation close to Stradbally.

In the intervening four years, many locals have voiced vociferous opposition to the plans and this week we visited them.

We were just outside Stradbally, in a place called Ratheniska - where the National Ploughing Championships were held earlier this year.

There are already large pylons cutting right through the landscape there. What has locals up in arms are plans to expand the amount of pylons, the construction of new lines from there down to Kilkenny and the building of a substation.

Some of the new pylons will be as high as 70m high and the substation will be able to accommodate 16 different lines. It is this that most concerns locals. Their fear is that in years to come, lines from some of the several thousand wind turbines planned for the locality will run to the substation, transforming the landscape into something akin to an industrial hub.

Listen to what they have to say below...