Mr. Terence O'Rourke:

Our remit is to supply safe, secure and affordable electricity to the people of Ireland. Obviously, some of the things we do have an environmental impact, so our objective is to carry out our main programme in a manner that is as environmentally sensitive and adaptable as possible. Regarding Ardnacrusha, the safe discharge of floodwater takes precedence over all other matters, including the generation of electricity, so if we have a choice between releasing floodwater or generating electricity, we release floodwater to try to relieve flooding pressures at various points on the Shannon. The Shannon is obviously a very complex river that is very slow moving and tends to flood along its reaches. The ESB works with other parties like the Office of Public Works, OPW, the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, Waterways Ireland and the various local authorities. We will continue to work with them to see if the operation of Ardnacrusha can help in any way to minimise the flooding impact and with regard to things like fisheries and other areas in respect of which we have a remit to make sure that is done as sensitively and effectively as possible.

I take the Chairman's point about wind farms. Offshore wind power is very challenging technically in terms of floating offshore platforms, but in a way it is probably the least environmentally impactful of the various trends we are looking at, and this is why we are very keen to develop our understanding of and plans for that as soon as we can. The Chairman can take it that we have a subcommittee of the board dealing with environmental issues and the impact of the ESB and its operations to make sure they are environmentally sensitive as well, that we are as low carbon as possible and that, where possible, our vans are fuelled in a way that does not take much fossil fuel. The environmental impact of all we do is a constant imperative for the company and our board to be cognisant of.

I, therefore, take the Chairman's comments and I will make sure that we continue to be focused on that and try to watch out for that all the time while also trying to provide safe, secure and affordable electricity to the people of Ireland.