Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 4 December 2013

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications

Electricity Transmission Network: Discussion with EirGrid

10:45 am

Mr. Fintan Slye:

Certainly. Deputy Mattie McGrath has said he was in the control centre a few times and that there were never amber lights flashing. Our whole existence is dedicated to ensuring there are no amber lights and that the lights stay on. I know it is trite to say it, but it is incredibly important. It is only when the lights go out that people realise just how important it is. If there is a threat to supply for whatever reason, that is a huge barrier to business, business coming into the country and investment. That very point was echoed by Mr. Barry O'Leary of IDA Ireland recently. We take our job of keeping the lights on incredibly seriously and will continue to do so. We have a large number of people dedicated to this task.