Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

My direction is that we achieve a competitive clean and secure energy supply and keep money in this country rather than have it go abroad as much as possible. In the gas area, the RTF applies for about 246 customers. These are some of the larger industrial customers, companies that are in a competitive challenge, exporting companies to the UK and others. For them it is important that the regulator gets the price right. There are real benefits from introducing competition from having it deregulated in that one can have a downward price pressure for such customers. However, it is not certain. One has to ensure there is not a dominant position that one does not end up giving short term gains and seeing a long term loss. It is the regulator's job to assess, to listen to different views and come to a conclusion. I am confident in its ability to take on that task and to make the necessary change. The RTF has been in place for a number of years. It was always seen as being a temporary measure and was not meant to be a permanent mechanism. It is a temporary measure until there is a sufficient level of competition to open it up. That would bring prices down. The policy is working and I believe the CER will continue to make it work.

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