Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I refer to the sort of energy projects in Ireland Mr. McDowell thinks the EIB could be investing in, such as large-scale offshore wind farms. In Denmark, Germany and elsewhere, they are bidding the auction process down to €5.70 per kilowatt hour and while it must be possible for us to have a similar auction process, it is still a risky project. In terms of aggregated solar power, the EIB is not going to put a panel on my roof but perhaps if there were 10,000 people who sought such investments and an aggregator to act as a counter-party to EIB lending in that regard, there would be scope for EIB lending. It would be private sector and it is not high risk but it is not a State infrastructure regulated asset. Other projects we need to do on the same basis are deep retrofit and the rolling out of heat pumps, as are the tens of thousands of charging points we will need. Might projects of that sort qualify, being aggregated, non-high risk but not regulated State infrastructure? Has the EIB done that type of lending elsewhere or has it talked to anyone about doing that type of aggregated energy or large energy lending here and might that qualify under the current rules so that it is off-balance sheet in that sense?