Mr. Fintan Slye:

The Celtic interconnector is a joint project with Réseau de Transport d’Électricité, RTE, the French transmission system operator. We have been working on it together for approximately three years. We have completed the initial pre-feasibility phase in the middle of last year which showed this is viable. It estimated the cost at approximately €1 billion, which would be split between the two countries and companies. We are now in the preliminary design and pre-consultation phase.

We have a memorandum of understanding in place with the French and have received European funding through the Connecting Europe facility for the phase we are in. That phase will run for probably another 12 to 18 months. It involves all the very detailed economic assessment and the finalisation of the cost assessment to work out the benefits at European level but also the benefits to Irish and French consumers. We will then consider the next phases and whether to proceed with it and whether it qualifies for any European funding. If the project continues to pass through the various stage gates and proves to be viable we would seek commissioning of the interconnector in or around 2025. That is a ball park timeline.