Mr. Fintan Slye:

At the moment, the island of Ireland has two interconnectors to the UK, one from Nothern Ireland near Belfast across to Scotland and one from Meath at Rush beach to Wales. Those two are in existence and working. We are looking at a possible interconnector to France and have done some work on a seabed survey for that. All of the options we set out in the draft strategy - all three of them - would be compatible with an interconnection to France. The interconnection is not a driver for the project but all of them are sufficient to meet the needs should such a project ultimately develop. I am happy to talk further about the Ireland-France interconnection if the Deputy wishes.