The Court of Appeal has ruled that a procedure under which the ESB served a notice to enter private lands to carry out works on electricity lines is unlawful.
The court upheld an appeal by Killross Properties Limited over the legality of a way leave notice authorising temporary entry onto the company's lands in Co Kildare as part of planned upgrading works to electricity lines.
The court ruled that the procedure used by the ESB for serving way leave notices under Section 53 of the 1927 Electricity Supply Act on Killross involved an unlawful delegation of the board's powers under the act.
The appeal court found anyone issuing way leave notices had to be directly authorised by the board.
It found the board could authorise the CEO to issue such notices but could not give the CEO the authority to delegate the powers to others.
