Mr. Kevin Brady:

That fourth point, which also follows up on something that was said earlier, was that energy infrastructure is a key element. It is important to say that the Government does treat energy as a very high priority and we have been one of the few areas to meet directly with the Barnier task force to discuss and set out. The presentation we gave in Boyle at the civic dialogue was very similar to the presentation we gave to the Barnier task force, setting out the key issues we see for Ireland and the key potential actions that need to be taken. One of the latter is appropriate energy infrastructure. Regarding electricity, direct interconnection to the wider European market undoubtedly needs to be examined more, as well as the potential for other methods of importing natural gas - for instance, liquefied natural gas, which may need to be considered. In the context of Brexit, we are putting these challenges and priorities on the radar of our European colleagues and the Barnier task force, and energy infrastructure is very much one of our four key energy priorities.