Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have met and spoken to a number of new entrants who believe they provided information to the regulator back to 2014 and 2015, which clearly set out the constraints that they saw. I have seen the documentation and it is very clear. The documentation was provided to the CRU. It sets out a very clear pathway to how they might be able to participate and the encumbrances that would prevent them. The documentation that was produced in 2014 and 2015 charted what happened. I go back to what I said the last day about the way in which the criteria allowed the ESB to participate. I have not suggested it did anything wrong. It saw what was in front of it. It cornered a big slice of the market and failed to deliver. I find that hard. I have said this to people in the ESB. I have great regard for what the ESB has done over the years, both internationally and domestically. It is a wonderful company. I find it hard to accept it has failed in such a spectacular way, although I must take its word for it.

Those in the CRU are in a regulatory position and have a different role. The ESB pays its fine and moves things on. The CRU goes back with its T-3 auction and the bid goes from €46,000 or €47,000 per megawatt to €138,000 within a very short period. I believe that warrants deeper investigation by the CRU. In fairness to the witnesses from the CRU, on the last day they asked me to provide the evidence or documentation I had. Sometimes it requires a regulatory authority to put all the bits and bobs together. If it starts to quack like a duck and walk like a duck, maybe it is a duck. Maybe the ESB has not done anything other than play the market as it was, but the market regulator has a responsibility.

I am not trying to apportion blame but it would be helpful if, at some point, we could get all of this out there to say what happened, even if it had not been the intention. Candour would be helpful, and we will be asking the same of the ESB in due course. Many people invested with goodwill to try to be part of those new entrants, and candour would benefit everybody. Many of them lost out and have left the scene, so there are problems there. If the commission could analyse that further, that would be helpful.