Mr. Fintan Slye:

The North-South interconnector project will deliver a number of benefits. The Senator referred to one benefit in his point about the security of supply issues arising for Northern Ireland after 2020. However, we also set up an all-island electricity market in 2007 but we do not yet have the transmission grid to allow it to operate seamlessly. Therefore, while one of the benefits of the project is that we will address the security of supply issue for Northern Ireland, another benefit is that will allow us to deal with a bottleneck which is costing customers across the island approximately €30 million per annum in additional constraint costs. Over the long term the security of supply benefits will accrue to everyone on the island. While Northern Ireland faces an issue in the short term, an all-island energy market will allow consumers on every part of the island to access the most efficient source of generation irrespective of where on the island it is located. While the immediate issue for Northern Ireland arises in 2020, beyond that point generation capacity will be developed in various locations in Northern Ireland. This potentially includes redevelopment of Coolkeeragh, Ballylumford or Kilroot. It is important that consumers across the island are able to access the benefits accruing from these developments.