Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

The figure is an interesting one in that the earlier projection was that this year's peak would be 5,250 MW, so it is quite significantly below that. It represents a demand growth of less than 1%, which is encouraging. I agree with the Deputy's comments on the problems of forced outages we have had with older generation plant. One of the ways in which we can manage through a tight situation is by energy efficient demand management — that is, getting the same services for using less. This is the first time I have seen where the winter peak was significantly below what was being forecast. A 250 MW increase was expected but less than a quarter of that has appeared to be delivered, which is an encouraging sign.

I support the Deputy's comments on the North-South interconnector. As regards the importance of this grid development for the economy is that increasingly companies seeking investment opportunities——

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