Mr. Jim Gannon:

I thank Senator Dooley. I will briefly close out the data access code piece. This insight into legislation has come about from the work on the data access code. We now see challenges as we see that data use cases might be to the benefit of consumers. That is evolving. The clear point was made that clarity in the legislation is important. Not only will that provide better support for certain use cases, but it will also provide better clarity for consumers on the protection of their data as these use cases are used. This point was made by Senator Higgins.

I will speak about the Irish electricity market more generally in the context of the instant price increases when the Russian invasion of Ukraine happened. As soon as gas prices started to rise, notwithstanding the fact that some of the gas had already been purchased, the futures - the longer term gas that was being purchased - would also have instantaneously increased. That would have led to an immediate increase in the price of gas being purchased and would have led to an immediate increase in prices. To reflect back, gas moved to a price that was ten times what it had been in the preceding period. That was not reflected in the retail prices we saw. Nonetheless, it is important to note that the CRU will undertake a review of consumer protection measures to see how the crisis over the recent winter impacted on consumers and what can be amended, done better or supported for the forthcoming winter period. Separately, the review of SOLR exits last year - three such exits happened in a row - will also look at the market forces that forced these suppliers out of the market, the impact on consumers and the cost of those exercises. We will also conduct our annual review of the retail market. That will reflect back over the last year to look at market practices, data and statistics. The outturn of that will likely lead us to say what occurred, what the underlying market forces were, and if something different or something more is needed to make the Irish market more competitive.