Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

They could converge at some later stage because we are all into interconnection nowadays. Eventually those parallel lines might cross an interconnector. The Minister has confirmed that an interconnector will be built and will be State controlled. I do not have any problem with that. There might be some merit in having a second interconnector, as most people in the business believe that one will not be enough. We might need a second one, depending upon the degree to which we propose to sell off excess power supply and may have to import power in certain circumstances. Any observer of the system will know that can vary dramatically but I feel that something has been missed. I do not see anything wrong with competition between the public and private sectors, although that has disappeared from the horizon in recent times. In this House, we tend to be idealistic about it and either go for one or the other, whereas a balance needs to be met somewhere in the middle. This is so, where a utility service is in control of one sector, such as with Eircom. I mean no disrespect to the people involved in that company but it got away from all of us. Some of us predicted it would happen, although that meant nothing. It got away from us for a variety of reasons. It is a volatile industry, it has a short technological lifespan, similar to the generation of electricity, and it is hugely attractive to investors, particularly when interest rates are low. There is a similar situation here. Again a utility service is in question. It is vital to the domestic economy on a daily basis and the only thing that concentrates people's minds is a blackout. When the lights go out there is a serious problem and heads roll, if they can be found.

The integrity of the grid will be of critical importance in the future and it must remain under State ownership. Equally, it must be kept completely separate from the generating companies.

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