Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There are no plans to develop a renewable energy export plan, and they are not the subject of any discussion at these meetings. In respect of the interconnector there is funding for a joint research project between Eirgrid and its French equivalent, RTE. I encouraged that because it is an important potential project and if it is found viable we should bring it forward because interconnections will be critical for us in the context of energy union. We are peripheral to Europe, relatively and geographically speaking, as an island behind another island. If we are going to benefit from the energy union we need to ensure that we have proper interconnection not just with the UK, which we value but with France and the broader European Union.