Overview

RTÉ Investigates reveals serious environmental and safety hazards within the ESB Network spanning two decades, and hears from a whistleblower who has documented his concerns in protected disclosures. Whistleblower Séamus O’Loughlin: “I got the report on the fluid filled cables, I got the total leakage, up to a million litres in 20 year period. I just couldn’t compute it to be honest. I was astounded.” An internal ESB report from 2014, which is marked confidential, states that: “leaks could present a very high environmental impact, given the proximity to the Grand Canal.” The ESB report goes on to say that the underground cable oil is “not considered compatible with watercourses and the associated eco systems, in rivers and canals and the sea.”