Mr. Fintan Slye:

The first question concerned Ireland and France and the funding of the Celtic interconnector. The cost is €1 billion. We hope the funding will come from Europe and we will make an application under the Connecting Europe Facility. We hope to get 50% funding for the project. The remaining cost will be split between ourselves and France under the French TSO RTE. Next year, there will be a process to decide on the split of costs. To date, we have operated on a 50:50 cost sharing basis for the costs incurred. There is a formal regulatory process between the two regulatory authorities in Ireland and France and they have started discussions on cost sharing. We will work through that process with them and we expect a decision on cost sharing towards the end of next year.

The interconnector can flow power both ways and will be enabled to do that. What is happening in either market will dictate what way the power will flow. More detail was sought on the timeline to 2025. I will ask Mr. Fitzgerald to discuss timelines.