Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

In my initial reply to the Deputy I stated that where someone is not able to avail of a gate 3 connection it will go back into a pool to develop an alternative project. The CER and EirGrid will have to do this in a very timely manner and recognise that the targets we have set are ambitious and require action. The Irish Wind Energy Association and others recognise that every system will have certain failings and difficulties for one operator and not another. What they do not want is for us to throw up the entire apple cart and have to pick up the pieces afterwards. While the gate 3 process is difficult and has certain limitations, it gave them the certainty they needed to get projects built and that was the first of my criteria.

To answer Deputy Coonan, we introduced a support scheme for micro-generation of less than 11 kilowatt hours and an SEI grant scheme to test the various systems. This is proper and right to ensure that we are developing the proper technologies. My ambition goes beyond that. I have asked the ESB about how we can extend that to larger small-scale micro-producers. I am particularly interested in putting something in place that works for the Irish farming community because it must have a benefit from the system and not just a cost.

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