Ms AnnMarie Farrelly:

Longford and Offaly have been the most impacted places by ESB's closures in Lanesborough and Shannonbridge. I do not have any further detail on the energy hub proposal. I saw the press release that the ESB issued late last week. Kieran Mulvey, the just transition commissioner, has engaged with the company on our behalf. He facilitated a meeting with it about a community gain fund for Longford and Offaly, specifically Lanesborough and Shannonbridge.

We do not have any agreement on that yet. Negotiation is ongoing and I understand that any agreement at local level also has to be agreed with the ESB board in due course, if there is community gain fund availability. As the Deputy said, €5 million was provided by the ESB. In some of the discussions we are having with the company, there are buildings on both sites that may be given for community use. We are working through those proposals with the ESB at the moment, particularly those for Shannonbridge. The Dalton Centre is the building in Shannonbridge that has been mentioned and the local community group has also been liaising with the ESB in that regard. We are trying to facilitate that at the moment. However, the community gain fund would be very welcome in trying to get those communities that are impacted at Shannonbridge and Lanesborough some matched funding for the just transition projects and applications they have in the system at the moment.

We are getting commentary on the construction cost increases. The just transition fund was available over a three-year period. Due to delays in the system, it is now a two-year period with a closing date of 31 December 2022. We have asked the Department to look at that to allow a three-year period for those projects to get off the ground and to utilise the funding available to them. We are aware of the escalation of construction costs. We have also made that point to the Department. That is the full picture we have at the moment. Negotiations are ongoing with the ESB regarding any additional community gain funding that might be available for Lanesborough and Shannonbridge.