Dr. Paul McGowan:

As I stated, in the look back we will pay particular attention to whether the ESB has spent efficiently the moneys for which it applied, as is normally the case. According to the environmental reports provided to us by the ESB between 2014 and 2017 - the 2017 report is the most recent we have and we provided a copy of it to the committee - the amount of leakage from the fluid-filled cables reduced from 54,600 l per annum to 15,201 l. On that basis of analysis, the ESB was making progress in its programme to reduce the level of leakage from the cables.