Ms Sinead Ryan:

As I have mentioned, the scheme came under the EU temporary crisis framework which was targeted at the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The framework was drawn by reference to that, so a comparable period just before the invasion and then thereafter. The scheme was not aimed at the general rise in energy prices. It could not be, because of the terms of the temporary crisis framework. That is how the reference period was identified. It was the pre and then then the post period that helped identify it.