Mr. Seamus O'Loughlin:

That was not really my remit. The genesis of all this is the propane gas. The highest risk area for propane gas is in Dublin because that is where most of the cable jointing work goes on. When I met various people and front-line members it was a bit of a joke that we were still getting away with the level of fluid leakage that was going on. On the one hand the ESB is stating the fluid it is putting in is biodegradable but in the PR4 submission it continually highlights how damaging it is. It states that several of the programmes are largely justified based on the environmental impact and that fluid leakage presents a challenge to ESB networks that is costly and environmentally damaging. We just cannot have that level of leakage. The elephant in the room is the rate of replacement of the cables. If we do not replace these cables in line with our commitments to the regulator the problem will grow exponentially. I do not fancy our chances of getting into work on time in the morning if we have to start digging up half of Dublin.