Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their contributions so far. Based on the evidence we have heard so far, the Government made this decision in June 2009 and it was communicated to the regulator.

Ms MacEvilly mentioned that there was a lot of collaboration and that there was an industry. How big a lobby was there for this to happen? Was the Minister lobbied by industry to get this change? While it was a time of economic crisis, it was a time of economic crisis for everybody. Basically, what was happening was one sector was lobbying to get a relief and that relief was then going to be passed on as higher charges to another sector, which was the general public or the domestic user.

I would like to understand how large a lobby was there. When Government stated that it was going to do this, on what grounds did it base that decision?