Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and committee members for facilitating this meeting. We are anxious to get the legislation through. I gave a commitment at the North-South Ministerial Council last Monday week that we would try to facilitate its passage. The objective behind it relates to having an integrated single electricity market on the island of Ireland. The integrated market was established in 2007. With respect to changes in EU legislation and issues which have arisen with the market, we have brought forward this legalisation to deal with them. It is given far more significance on foot of the decision in the United Kingdom to exit the European Union.

There are issues regarding interconnectivity. When I addressed the 50 members of the Council of Ministers in Bratislava earlier this week, I pointed to the importance of interconnectivity for Ireland. Our electricity and gas networks are connected directly via the United Kingdom to European networks. I had an interesting meeting with my Norwegian counterpart. Norway is developing an interconnector with the United Kingdom. That brings into focus not only the need for interconnectivity across the island but also the broader challenges we face. The French President and the Taoiseach will next week sign an agreement on the Celtic electricity interconnector between France and Ireland. I also had very interesting discussions on liquefied natural gas, in which some members will be interested in terms of the opportunities along the Shannon Estuary. With reference to production in the United States, I understand that within the next five years Australia will be the biggest producer of liquefied natural gas.

While we had hoped the outcome of the Brexit referendum would have been different, we had been involved in contingency planning. We have engaged at European level to explain to our colleagues the importance of the United Kingdom not only in terms of the energy market but also in dealing with far broader trade issues and in the context of the need to make progress in having an integrated single electricity market, I-SEM, on the island of Ireland. This legislation will facilitate the development of the I-SEM in the context of EU directives. Whether they will still apply in two years time post the negotiations, I do not know, but the reality is that it will give greater stability to the electricity network, North and South. Because a substantial amount of electricity is generated from renewable resources, the additional stability will benefit everyone on the island.