Mr. John O'Connor:

It is responsible for running the electricity grid system throughout the island, in both Northern Ireland and the Republic. It is also responsible for running a unified wholesale electricity market, which impacts on the price, reliability and availability of electricity for everybody in the country. It affects the life of every person on the island. It is also of huge importance in terms of economic competitiveness, which is crucial in all aspects of life, and particularly now. If our economy is to recover and prosper, we must have a competitive electricity supply.

It is one of the key competitive issues around any investment programme and so forth.