Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

Sometimes we get accused of moving too fast on a project, of not thinking matters through and not foreseeing all of the difficulties. In other cases, as the Deputy rightly states, matters go on for a long time before we get from the concept to the project. I cannot give the Deputy a date but it was probably four years ago that a decision was made that there should be an interconnector. We tried to do this on a merchant basis but when all the procedures were finished, we discovered there was not the required interest in the market. The Government then decided it would consider alternative options. It was through CER that we commissioned a report from KPMG, which made a number of recommendations in July of this year, and it is on that basis that we are moving forward.

The decision in principle to have an interconnector has been in place for three or four years. In fact, there was a decision in principle that there would be two 500 MW lines. However, the recent KPMG report stated that two 500 MW lines would not be desirable at this stage because they might have the opposite effect in the market to the effect we want. So, in one sense, the fact that we had to go back to the drawing board and make a further study at least brought out that point, and we probably saved €200 million or €300 million in that regard.

With regard to the question of how we know we will be able to make the connection and install reinforcements, the decisions on these matters will be made in consultation with our Welsh and UK colleagues. The studies carried out reveal there are two possible routes. Deputy Broughan asked me a question on this matter earlier but I did not get to reply to it. There are two possible routes, north and south Wales, to two sites on this side of the Irish Sea. Reinforcement work would be needed on both sides of the Irish Sea. Such work would be in the interests of whatever power company we will be dealing with in the UK, although the position there is not the same as it is here. The UK company will examine that and make a decision on the basis of the possibility of extra business for it.

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