Mr. Garrett Blaney:

I would be happy to. The SEM committee's composition is set up in legislation. There are three voting members. The three commissioners of the Commission for Energy Regulation, CER, of whom I am one, sit on that committee and we have one vote in its decision making. Ms Pyper, as the CEO of the Utility Regulator, UR, is the chair on a rotating basis. The committee has other members from the UR, who have the second vote en bloc.

The legislation was insightful. Notwithstanding the good relationship between the two bodies, it envisaged that disagreement on an issue could arise. It requires an independent member and a deputy independent member to ensure continuous decision making. That has been helpful.

The committee has had a number of independent and deputy independent members. The current independent member is Mr. Odd Håkon Hoelsæter, who joined us in recent years. His vast experience from Norway has been helpful in our decision making. The deputy independent member is Professor David Newbery of Cambridge University. They help our decision making, but when the joint committee asked us to attend as the SEM committee, we chose to do so as the key entities, namely, the chairs of the UR and CER, so as to provide a proper reflection of the SEM committee.

Mr. Odd Håkon Hoelsæter had a previous role. I mentioned the independent commission that was set up by the Government some time back. He had a role as one of its members.

In this context, he had a view on the North-South interconnector. If the committee is minded to seek guidance from this independent commission, I suggest it asks the Minister and Department as it is outside our remit. Our remit is regulation as set out in statute.