Subsea Cable Challenged

14 November 2012

A challenge to the ministerial go-ahead for an subsea fibre-optic telecom cable between Dublin and Wales is to be fast-tracked by the Commercial Court.

Sea Fibre Networks has brought the case against the Minister for the Environment over the granting to Emerald Bridge Fibres of a licence for the subsea telecom cable from Portmarnock to Port Dafarach in Wales.

SFN owns and operates a separate subsea fibre-optic cable that runs from Bull Island in Dublin to Port Dafarach, under a foreshore license issued in 2011.

Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan agreed yesterday to fast-track the case in the Commercial Court.