Mr. Nicholas Tarrant:

We are in a new phase of investment now. The electricity network, between transmission and distribution, has served the country up to now but we are in a new phase because of huge increases in demand that are coming, whether that is from housing, continued economic growth, population increases, climate action plan targets like electrification, heat and transport, and sectors we have mentioned that are large users. We need to see investment, and I hope that investment will see engagement on the capacity issues we can and do have in certain areas of our network.

There will be a period between now and when that investment is delivered and we have to deliver those projects as quickly as we can. Where possible, we will deliver interim solutions to ensure we have capacity right across the country. There is a period of making sure that we deliver the key infrastructure coming with these large projects. To give the committee an idea of the distribution network, we have approximately 30 large HV substations to be delivered in the PR6 period. As Ms O'Shea mentioned earlier, this is on top of 231 transmission projects and there is also a range of other distribution projects. There will be interim solutions needed in different parts of the country. I cannot speak specifically today about west Cork but, in general, there will be targeted measures needed in different places to continue investing and allowing people to connect to the electricity network across the country.