Mr. Dermot Nolan:

I am slightly edgy about going into too much detail because it has already been written down, and more importantly, the issue could potentially involve court proceedings. I will try to give a short answer, which is the sense that the interconnectors need to be paid for. They were authorised before the Commission for Energy Regulation, CER, was set up and they provide valuable security of supply benefits. Given the nature of the way the charging system was when they were set up, the price of gas from Britain was linked to their usage. To give a hypothetical numerical example, if the cost of price was €100 and the price of transport was €5, if use of the interconnector fell drastically, the cost of transport could rise to €20, so the overall price of gas would go from €105 to €120. We believed that would be difficult and harmful to consumers so we changed the system. I have probably said all I can on that issue. We will see what happens with the court case and then take a view.