Mr. Garrett Blaney:

The Commission for Energy Regulation, CER, welcomes the clean energy for all Europeans package. It is about setting Europe as a leader in clean energy. To date, Ireland has played a key part in successfully developing Europe's position on clean energy, particularly with renewables. For example, CER recently had a visit from the Australian Government which has had major challenges in implementing renewable energy generation and was looking for input from us. Similarly, we had a delegation from Japan, again looking for experience from Ireland. Ireland is really at the forefront. However, there are significant challenges ahead with the integration of renewables. The European Commission’s winter package, the other name for the clean energy for all Europeans package, tries to address some of these challenges of the integration of renewables. In that context, fundamental changes will need to be made to energy systems. This package sets out some of the key parameters which need to be changed.

In Ireland, we are involved in a major translational project of changing the electricity market across the island, the integrated single electricity market, ISEM, project. We have an all-island committee, the single electricity committee, of which Ms Aoife MacEvilly and I are both members. We are in the process of changing the market in a way that will align it with the rest of continental Europe. We believe this change is going to help converge the design of our market with the rest of Europe. It will also help make our market closer to that in Great Britain, which will be an interesting issue. It will improve the efficiency of trading energy, improve the integration of renewables and, ultimately, help consumers develop better outcomes from their point of view.

The winter package is massive, comprising 1,000 pages and covering all aspects of energy regulation currently in place. While we broadly support it, we need to have some caution. There are elements of the package which have a risk of overreach from the European Commission, particularly a one-size fits all approach. For example, it talks about network tariffs being set centrally at a European level. I sit on the board of European regulators and we are pushing back at some elements of this, saying we need to be cautious and ensure a system suitable for the various member states, including Ireland. We have a different market here with different types of technology compared to the rest of Europe. It is important we ensure this ultimately works for consumers on this island, as well as working for consumers across the rest of Europe.