Mr. Francis O'Donnell:

Any additional powers we would have that would protect migrating eels or salmon would be very welcome. There is also a very significant responsibility on the ESB, that has profits of more than €900 million, to put mitigation in place. To be fair to the ESB, it has agreed to supply two additional persons for eel and salmon research to work along with the IFI. It would recruit them and pay for that. Is it enough? Probably not, but it is still a step in the right direction.

What I am trying to do at my level is to work with the ESB and get it into a position, strategically, where it has to think of the future, its business model and how it is perceived by the Irish citizen. I am trying to be fair to the company today. I need to work with it and bring it to that place where that realisation is there for it as a business, because it has the money to make these changes if it wants to make them. I have no doubt my own Minister is pressing it, and pressing it very hard.