Ms Aoife MacEvilly:

I thank the Senator for that. She is quite right. There is also a cost associated with imports of supplies. We will face that cost no matter what. If the EU is to reduce its reliance on the import of Russian gas, as it has declared, it will be increasing its import of LNG supplies, which is a global market. LNG supplies tend to be more expensive. At a time when the market is tight and a number of countries or regions, such as Europe or China, may be competing for scarce supplies, it can bid the price up and the LNG suppliers will go to whoever pays the highest price. That is the reality in the commercial world.

We will face that cost anyway because Europe is turning away from piped Russian gas. It is looking to fill gas storage over the course of this summer and every summer with LNG imports to reduce our reliance on Russian gas, so the price at which we import gas as a commodity, which is set on European markets and the UK national balancing point, will rise or continue at elevated heights to ensure we receive that LNG supply. Irrespective of whether Ireland has an import facility or the import facilities for that LNG are based in the UK, Germany or other EU member states, that cost will feed into the tariffs customers ultimately pay. Over time, it may be that the costs equalise for imports depending on the availability of LNG supplies.

Getting back to some of the Senator's other questions, we will face additional costs associated with the delivery of infrastructure where there is a strategic need to deliver core infrastructure in the electricity and gas networks. Where possible, commercial infrastructure delivery should be encouraged. That is the case broadly with the Greenlink project where there is a regulatory cap and floor regime and there is more of commercial money at risk, let us say, in that project. The potential for commercial LNG should also alleviate some of the cost pressure. If we are considering something more like strategic gas storage in the same way we have the National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, oil storage, that is different again. That would add further cost for consumers or however it is decided by the Government that something like that would be paid for.

Regarding what that means for new infrastructure for local communities, across the energy sector generally, we will have to do a better job of explaining to local communities why we need more energy infrastructure, be it electricity, gas or low carbon. All of this is important for decarbonisation. We will not decarbonise our electricity or energy system without building new infrastructure and that will be across communities, whether it is offshore renewables or additional transmission infrastructure to deliver that electricity or gas or, ultimately, hydrogen infrastructure. We need to do a better job of explaining the rationale for that to communities and, as we have said, look to accelerate some of the planning processes that will help us incorporate community views and deliver quickly, which will also reduce costs.

In terms of solar panels and microgen, they were more for the-----