Mr. Jim Gannon:

Ms MacEvilly noted the infrastructure challenge that is ahead of us. In the previous price review, PR4, which covered the period from 2016 to 2020, there was an underspend of €200 million or a little in excess of that by the transmission system operator and the transmission asset owner in building infrastructure in Ireland that could resolve some of these constraints and that could support the deployment of more renewables. However, Ireland did meet its renewable energy target or at least met 40% in 2020, although the calculation is a little more complex than that. It does not take away from the massive challenge we face where in PR5, which is the electricity framework that provides the TSO and DSO with the funding over the next five years, we have given an extra 35% for the transmission capital expenditure, CapEx, and we have given an extra 84% for the distribution CapEx. That is a huge amount of investment. That is a lot of wires and substations that need to be put in place to facilitate the deployment of renewable infrastructure, including the type of low-carbon technologies such as batteries and sequence condensers, and it will also help to provide and accommodate the flexibility that we want to happen with regard to residential, SMEs and industrial consumers. That investment is required. Physical infrastructure is going to be needed. What we were trying to get across is that we welcomed the proposed review by the Attorney General. We think it would be good. It would also be good if it could be expedited. We again note that the Commission is calling on member states to ensure that planning, construction and operation of plants for the provision of energy from renewable resources and the supporting grid infrastructure is considered to be in the overriding public interest.

That is very significant in terms of our planning processes, how infrastructure projects are developed and how we have regard to them in the permitting processes, especially where sensitivities around special areas of conservation, SAC, special protection areas, SPA, and other protections need to be taken into account.

I just reinforce the fact that there is a challenge to both unlock some of the constraints Ms MacEvilly mentioned to get better value out of what we have and to facilitate the renewables deployment we need, in addition to other technologies that will make sure we get the best value out of those renewables and infrastructure. A large plan of construction needs to be implemented. It is to move from the strategy, proposition and plan stage to the construction stage that we need now. We need to move things to those planning processes. We should ask the questions of the planning processes, but move them through and start building some of this infrastructure and have that dialogue with society that outlines why we need these things and why there is a net benefit and explains the underlying climatological and social reasons why we need to deliver this infrastructure, which is needed.