Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ireland is evolving and changing. Who would have thought 20 years ago that we would all have mobile phones? Who would have thought when the ESB started that everyone would want an electricity supply given people were almost afraid of electricity at the outset? This process will change and there will be an enormous take-up. This is the future. We have a political imperative; the witnesses have a commercial imperative. Everyone has an imperative to get this right. The €2.97 billion figure is not correct because of the VAT reduction, the cushion of more than €500 million to allow for escalating costs, which we do not anticipate will arise, and the clawback. In this way, the figure could realistically fall a little below €2 billion. Mr. Matthews said there will not be a high take-up. In the UK, one of the witnesses told us, the take-up was far greater than anticipated. I put it to the witnesses that the figure of €2.97 billion is not correct.