Mr. John Fogarty:

Exactly. That is one matter which needs to be addressed immediately.

For our four MW applications, we got a grid offer of €2.9 million, another of €1. 9 million and another of €1. 3 million. These were all out of the ballpark, were not viable and could not be done. We got three grid offers that, when we come together with other communities around the country, we will be able to utilise. That is where we are at.

We took a risk in trying to facilitate other communities. The committee may not realise that there is a significant groundswell of communities which want to engage. It would help if we got a small bit of assistance from the regulator in ring-fencing some of the grid. The Minister made a recent announcement about the community pot in the renewable electricity support scheme, RESS. If the ring-fencing of grid were to go hand in hand with that, many community projects could get off the ground. This would be a significant benefit to many communities.

We know about the frustration in the system and we know we are locked in it. We have tried our best to highlight this and bring it forward. There is goodwill in every direction. The word “action” is an important part of the committee’s title. It can certainly address the legislation that is stopping this development.