Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am keen to make this as quick as possible. I am sorry for coming in, as I am not a member of this committee but I was previously a member of a similar committee. I was a spokesman in this area for a number of years. I will start from where Deputy Patrick O'Donovan left off in terms of lack of confidence in the system and EirGrid. I believe there is an inability on the part of EirGrid to do its job and not only that, but there is also the failure to identify accurately and to represent the position as inherited from a previous Government, one with which Senator Byrne has some familiarity, which entered into an international agreement that imposed certain conditions on this country in terms of electricity, alternative energy and the identification of requirements. All of that is in addition to what will flow from the agricultural sector in terms of requirements towards carbon reduction. EirGrid has done nothing to in any way enhance the confidence we should have in the ability of the company to do that job, because it has equivocated in respect of everything.

In the United Kingdom, people are clearly told the difference between underground and overground costs. Whether it is five times or six times the cost, people are told straight off. There is no equivocation. There is no such thing as saying that it is not really five times and it may be two and half times, in which case it would amount to the same thing. That is the cost. At present, they are designing systems in the UK to transmit electricity overground. If people want them to go underground, then the relevant region pays for it.

I am concerned about this and I do not believe EirGrid is going anywhere. I do not believe EirGrid has identified the extent to which economic growth in this country is going to drive the requirement for energy in future. EirGrid has failed in that regard. EirGrid has changed decisions in mid-air without consultation with anyone. That is not something to engender confidence in either the people who are affected or the public representatives who have to carry the responsibility for it.

As Members of the Oireachtas, we have shouldered the responsibility in recent years of doing what a previous Government determined we should do, that is, develop alternative energy. However, there are few options. We have been left swinging. I totally disagree with what Senator Byrne has said. His organisation knew full well what was going on. I was invited to Cavan, Monaghan and north Meath when I was a spokesman on this matter to address these issues well before the last general election. What was going on there was well known. This is not new at all.