Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The matter goes back to the previous question from Deputy Tom Fleming, in that if we are to exploit our indigenous renewable resources, which will make a contribution in the area about which Deputy Moynihan is concerned, then we must generate the investment capital as best we can or ensure that we can remunerate the capital that is borrowed in the market in the normal way by, for example, the ESB. The ESB is a successful company and did return greater profits for last year than either the regulator or I anticipated. It has also taken a bigger hit in not just the dividend it has paid to the State but the super dividend which was part of the budget last year and which required the State companies to contribute an additional €100 million on top of that.

I am afraid it is the case, going back to the previous question, that the biggest driver in electricity costs is global oil and gas prices. The past two years have been exceptionally difficult in that regard for the reasons I mentioned about the circumstances in North Africa, the Middle East, what happened in Japan in terms of Fukushima, and the fact that both India and China have a voracious and growing appetite for energy. That has been the single biggest driver of prices.

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