Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There seems to be a difference between Northern Ireland and here in terms of the cost of connecting to the grid. Northern Ireland seems to encourage people to set up microgeneration and connect to the grid. I know of a chicken farmer in Monaghan, an area where with many poultry units. He spoke to other chicken farmers about plans to convert chicken droppings into electricity. He invested a lot of money in it but the killing point was the cost of connection to the grid. I think he has worked through it and hopefully has resolved that, but it was almost a tipping point. All of his good work might have fallen because of the cost of connecting to the grid. It seems to be much easier and certainly not as expensive in Northern Ireland.