Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

I warmly welcome what the Minister has said and that the company will not be privatised or atomised especially considering what my colleague said about Eircom. I ask about rising electricity costs. Will the Minister consider giving CER some sort of strong consumer mandate? To put it the other way around will the Minister give consumers a role in CER either in terms of a consumer panel as proposed in the report of the Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources on energy before these energy price decisions can be made? In other words will the Minister amend the Energy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill as I requested on Second Stage to give consumers a role?

Has the Minister discussed the role of the ESB in the all-island market with the Northern Ireland Minister, David Hanson MP, who criticised the role and the more than 60% market share of the ESB in the Southern part of the market after next summer? Did the Minister make any similar comments to him about Viridian, the old Northern Ireland Electricity company which also owns a network and operating assets? In other words has the Minister discussed the future of the ESB with the Northern Ireland Minister following his criticisms of ESB in the context of the operation of the all-island market? Given the Minister's view that it should not be broken up or atomised and that structural reforms are needed, how does he envisage the generation side reaching the point of 40% or more in the all-island market where we could have true competition at the marginal cost level?

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