Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

In effect, the Minister is trying to say that any problems there might be are for the company, not for him. He then goes on to minimise the scale of the problems as they exist. Contrary to the assertions in the Minister's answer, the east-west interconnector was commercially inoperable for three months after its official launch. Since December, it has operated at approximately half its capacity. In one of many similar instances, it fluctuated last night for approximately nine hours. For a significant period of that nine hours, it was not operating at all.

The primary cause of these issues is magnetic field emissions from the interconnector, which are causing harmonic interactions with local telecommunications. I have still not got an answer to the question I am asking the Minister. EirGrid made a submission in its environmental report in which it claimed that high-voltage direct current convertors create harmonics which can cause disruptions in telecommunications systems. We know such disruptions have occurred. EirGrid stated that specially designed DC filters are used to reduce and prevent disturbances. I understand that a decision was made to omit these specially designed harmonic filters from the interconnector and that this is the cause of the problem. I ask the Minister to confirm that and to tell the House who made the decision to omit the filters and when they did so.

It is not the case that there may be outages. EirGrid has advertised that between February and March the operation will be shut down for six weeks for works. Can the Minister confirm that the works are to install the harmonic filters?

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