Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Governments obviously cannot make decisions that bind future governments very easily. The decision memo for the Government at the time stated that it was a permanent decision. I think the word "permanent" was used. Of course, it is ultimately, legally and technically a decision for the regulator. The Government wanted it to happen and it collaborated with the regulator, saying that it was what it wanted to happen. The memo for Government uses the word "permanent" but it obviously was not permanent because it changed in 2022. It could have been changed at any other time during the previous 12 years but it was not. That was a decision between the regulator, the Government and the members of this committee.