I raise the issue of the North-South interconnector, a 400 kV line running from County Meath to County Tryone and passing through counties Monaghan and Cavan. It is 138 km in length. Will the Leader ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment to come to the House at the earliest opportunity to discuss comments which appeared last week in the Irish Independent and attributed to EirGrid? Eirgrid stated there was no legal onus on it or the ESB regarding access to land owned by farmers along the route. These comments have angered and further frustrated farmers and landowners along the entire route, as the Leader can well imagine. There are approximately 504 access points along the interconnector route. Clearly, access to lands will be required if the project is to succeed.

The other issue that emerged from the newspaper article involved the ESB ploughing on with the procurement of pylons for the project, notwithstanding the fact that planning permission has yet to be granted in Northern Ireland. What does that say about the planning process in this country? What message does it send for the State to carry on in this way? I ask the Minister to come to the House at the earliest opportunity to update Members on where the project is at, to explain to law-abiding people in counties Meath, Cavan and Monaghan what the State is doing and to react to the comments attributed to Eirgrid in the Irish Independent last week.

I highlight the plight of 12 graduate nurses working in Mayo University Hospital who have been let down by the HSE. They were promised permanent contracts in their place of work, but they have not been delivered. This is notwithstanding the fact that in March 2017 the INMO and SIPTU agreed with the HSE that from then on graduate nurses and midwives would be offered permanent contracts. It was for the very reason that we were finding it hard to retain nurses and other health professionals. We have invested a great deal in the education of these healthcare professionals and would like to retain them. Nurses and other healthcare professionals need permanent contracts to establish themselves and their families and obtain mortgages. The nurses in County Mayo were likewise promised contracts. As far back as 2017, the HSE's national director of human resources confirmed that all graduating nurses and midwives in the Saolta group would be offered permanent contracts, but that has proved not to be true. There is a serious question about commitments being made in public and the experience of the nurses. It speaks to issues of trust, truth and honesty and has led to disillusionment among those working in the health system. The Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, was told that these permanent contracts would issue, but they did not. I ask that he be invited to the House to allow us to shine a light on the behaviour of the HSE in delivering on this public, on-the-record commitment which it has failed to fulfil. Let us avoid losing these graduate nurses. Their colleagues in the class of 2017 have left and we do not want and cannot afford to lose them too. It is ironic that there are 29 nursing posts vacant in Mayo University Hospital, but these nurses cannot get the permanent contracts they need.