Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

Will the Minister outline where the windfall gain is for Endesa in charging for its carbon? He said repeatedly that this is about recouping carbon windfall gains evenly across all generators. Clearly, we are not doing that in regard to the PSO but that is a different issue. There is no windfall gain for Endesa. There is a considerable loss. It paid €24 per tonne for its emissions and carbon is now two thirds of that in terms of value, so there is a loss. If this is about carbon windfall gains, which it should be, there is no carbon windfall gain in regard to the electricity Endesa will sell.

I accept we are talking about relatively small amounts of money in comparison to windfall gains or the amounts of money being made by other companies. It is still an important principle. There is no windfall gain here and perhaps the Minister will at least acknowledge that.

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