Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for his interest and input on the advancement of private wires. We are probably about two weeks away from getting the policy statement agreed and the memo at Cabinet, so I cannot go into too much detail on it right now because it will be subject to Government approval. I am endeavouring to go after the low hanging fruit that is there. Even the legislation I will bring forward will only be the initial legislation that I believe we can build upon, along with point-to-point connections with storage. That will become a lot clearer within the next couple of weeks but obviously, I have to consult further with other Departments. We need to advance and move on this as a matter of urgency. I hoped this would have advanced more heretofore but it did not. We are really getting behind that.

On dispatch down and curtailment, grid investment will be critical for that. That is why with price review 6, we see the draft determination this week from the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU. That will move forward and we will get approval later in the year. Storage is critical as well. We need to build up our storage facilities, particularly for renewables, be they onshore or offshore. We have the policy framework in place now for Ireland with the electricity storage policy framework. We do not have the required facilities we need at this stage and that needs to be a focus.

On our grid, is not just about generation. The distribution piece is critical. We have to build resilience in our grid. That can be done in a relatively short period of time. I met ESB Networks again on Friday. I had a detailed meeting with it on that. The ESB might be in front of the housing committee this week and I am sure it will be before this committee, too. These are the things that can be done over the medium term, that ,is between now and 2030.

A critical part of grid resilience is interconnection. The Greenlink interconnector is up and running and fully electrified. It has the ability to power 350,000 homes and transfers energy between Ireland and Britain. The Celtic interconnector - our first interconnector to continental Europe - is being built. Frankly, the only one that needs to be built is the North-South interconnector. We have an all-Ireland energy market. The North-South interconnector has been consented to North and South and it needs to built. That will drive down energy bills and allow more renewables onto our system.