Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

The interconnector will be completely State-owned through EirGrid, which will have complete control of it. There is one North-South interconnector, there will be a second North-South interconnector and there will be a third interconnector which will run east-west. These projects will be completed at the latest by 2012. I envisage a need for one more interconnector at that stage. As I stated in reply to earlier questions, we will begin planning for that further interconnector by 2010. It might be another east-west interconnector or, given the need for security of supply, it might link Ireland to the European mainland.

With regard to how it might be built, the Commission for Energy Regulation is responsible for designing the competition. A private contractor may end up designing and building it, but ownership will remain with the State. There are two basic options for financing the projects. The first is Exchequer funding, which has not been used to date. However, the discussion point put forward in the Green Paper is that this is critical infrastructure which perhaps, with some other infrastructure, should be paid for by the Exchequer because it is so critical. The other option would be to finance the project the way every other piece of energy infrastructure is financed, namely, the companies would get a rate of return each year——

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