Mr. Noel Cunniffe:

Our grid infrastructure is in serious need of development. We developed our electricity grid substantially in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. We have been benefiting from the capacity that was created in that grid for the past two decades, and it has helped to drive much of the economic growth and employment we have seen in Ireland. We are starting to reach a point where our electricity grid will need further levels of reinforcement, along the coasts in particular, to deliver offshore wind energy and, in the midlands and other parts of the country, to deliver onshore renewables as well. We are going to need political and public support for our grid infrastructure if we are to have any chance of meeting our decarbonisation targets. We will need more pylons, more underground cables and more substations. We cannot do this if we do not have them.