The minister for agriculture says we have to find a way to move energy around the country, if we want to grow.

Simon Coveney was responding to questions from Newstalk's Pat Kenny about Eirgrid's controversial proposals to erect over a thousand pylons from Munster to Leinster:

Health risks

Minister Coveney insisted he is not aware of any health risks created by pylons, but agreed that health concerns must be addressed.

Still, he echoed the Taoiseach's sentiments from earlier in the week that Ireland's energy concerns need to be addressed in order for the economy to expand.

Minister Coveney said "People have very genuine concerns, as I know from my time as a former opposition spokesperson on energy. We need to look at the research they have produced."

He becomes the latest senior minister to deny health risks, after energy minister Pat Rabbitte told yesterday's Newstalk Breakfast show he was satisfied with assurances that pylons pose no health risks.

Energy expansion

Simon Coveney meanwhile described the current process of consultation as difficult and combative, but said people need to understand that if Ireland is to grow and expand we have to be able to move energy around the country.

"25-30% of the country's energy is produced around Cork harbour - some of those energy plants have to stop producing power at certain times because there is no effective way of moving that power to Dublin."

Clean renewable energy

He also spoke about our 'moral responsibility' to find an alternative to carbon-based energy sources. "We have fantastic natural energy resources in Ireland - both off-shore and on-shore - to produce clean renewable energy, and we have to find a way to facilitate the use of that, whether it's overground or under."

However, yesterday on Newstalk, the Gridlink project manager John Lowry told Lunchtime that the type of power generated and used here means the cables cannot be run underground: