Ms Aoife MacEvilly:

Hopefully, from our opening statement, the Senator would have seen that it is really clear we need a lot more energy infrastructure of all kinds on the island of Ireland in order to deliver a secure and sustainable low-carbon future. This includes electricity transmission infrastructure like core upgrades to the system, the North-South interconnector and upgrades in Dublin to accommodate offshore renewables coming on shore. I could go on.

That will also include infrastructure that will ensure secure supplies of energy to Irish consumers. Yes, it is absolutely the case there is a cost associated with all that infrastructure. We already incorporated that on the electricity side in our price review, PR5. When it comes to gas infrastructure and LNG, it can be a little different. It really depends on whether we are going down the route of commercial infrastructure or strategic infrastructure. For example, the Shannon LNG import facility is a commercial operation so it would not increase costs through transmission infrastructure charges for Irish consumers. It is being developed on a commercial basis by a major LNG-----