James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the EirGrid representatives to the committee. I have a number of questions, some of which may have already been covered by previous speakers. The Celtic interconnector is to be commissioned and in place by 2025. What is the timeline for this? What is the split between Ireland, France and the EU with regard to cost funding? Who will pay for it and to what degree? Will there be a two way flow? Will we contribute to the EU and France and will France contribute to us? Will we buy or sell energy? I wish to understand a little more about the logistics and the balance.

This is an area which puts Brexit in stark relief. We can speak about very academic matters but when we look at a map and interconnectors, the physical geography jumps out at us and is very apparent. I am delighted to see progress on the Celtic interconnector. Nobody can anticipate or predict the constitutional relationships across these islands in future. I was at a conference where this was discussed. There may be a possibility of going to or through Scotland as an alternative land bridge. Who knows where any of these countries may be post-Brexit in the long-term constitutional landscape? Has anything been looked at in this regard or have there been exploratory talks?

What are we doing to strike deals with the UK as it is with regard to existing interconnectors? I understand there was a period of downtime on the interconnector across the Irish Sea. How long was it out for? What was the outage caused by? What was the cost to restore it? What were the implications? Obviously we took over because the lights stayed on. What happened while it was down? What were the exposures? What are the operational risks of such a project? What energy security risks are posed?

We have a nod to energy mix in the chart with regard to renewable energy evolution and aspirations. With regard to solar, onshore wind, offshore wind, tidal and biomass we are quite poor with regard to renewable component in our energy mix vis-à-visother European states. This is something we all hope to see us drive towards. Do the witnesses have a view on where we need to be, where we should be and where we can get you in the medium term?

My next question may be a little out of the box. With regard to infrastructure, connectivity and the connections we have throughout the island, the committee has discussed at length broadband and Internet connectivity. What, if any, potential exists for using existing power infrastructure for telecoms purposes, primarily rural broadband and broadband enablement? If we have the kit out there perhaps there is a possibility engineering-wise to use some of it. I am interested to hear the thoughts and comments of the witnesses on this possibility.