Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We and the Minister have one chance in the next two years to do something interesting. We could sit back and wait but we will be doing well if this Parliament is here in three years time. The Minister correctly makes the case that we must ensure we are integrated with the rest of the market, and that will be very complicated because of Brexit. If these amendments were on the issue of balancing payments, capacity payments, market closure rules or all of the complex aspects of that interconnection issue the Minister talks about, I would accept what he says. However, this is nothing. This is all about local markets and local demand management. I can see no way where the amendments, and perhaps the Department will come back to the committee and highlight this, might interfere with regional electricity markets that will be developed. I cannot see how the promotion of demand management and self generation, micro generation or community generation could in any way affect the rules around interconnection and market integration with the rest of Europe. That is the first point.

The Department says that we are currently well served by section 9(4)(b). The sum total of what that says is that we must secure that all reasonable demands by final customers of electricity for electricity are satisfied. That does not say anything. That is the old way, the big base load plans chasing demand for electricity system. We must get away from that, and we must lead. This country has, first, an isolated synchronised grid so we have a real issue with balancing variable power supplies. We have one of the largest elements of variable power supply. It is all very well for France or other countries to work on that old system of nuclear power chases base load, but we are not that country.

We are an island with huge amounts of variable power supplies. Most of the top tech industries are here. Communities are yearning to get involved but they are blocked in terms of being able to get active in the electricity market in the same way as many other countries. This is happening across Europe. We do not need to wait on Europe to lead. If we do that we are not just followers; we are laggards. We need to start leading. I would love to hear from the Department officials by Report Stage which of the suggested amendments they believe will be in breach of any European legislation or that will cause difficulties in terms of interconnection or regional market rules. If we wait for Europe to legislate and then come back here, and we know it will be difficult to close any legislative gaps, I do not believe we will get it through the House and it will be the next Minister who will have to do it, which would be a terrible shame.