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

In January of 2013, the UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Mr. Edward Davey MP, and I signed a memorandum of understanding on energy co-operation. That memorandum sent a strong signal of our shared interest in developing the opportunity to export green energy from Ireland to Britain and will result in completion of consideration of how Irish renewable energy resources, onshore and offshore, might be developed to the mutual benefit of both countries.

Following the signing of a memorandum of understanding, work is progressing with a view to entering an intergovernmental agreement with the UK in 2014. Regarding the development of the intergovernmental agreement, significant work streams are ongoing in the areas of project management, the intergovernmental agreement itself, European Union liaison, communications and stakeholder management, economic analysis, policy on renewables export and grid issues, regulation, legislation, and land and planning. The work that is being done by my officials on the development of the intergovernmental agreement with the UK is separate and distinct from the work being done by EirGrid on the development of the domestic electricity grid, a point that continues to be confused, sometimes deliberately, I suspect.

With regard to the development of the proposed export project, it is important to note that this must await the completion of an intergovernmental agreement, the putting in place of a renewable energy export policy and development framework, and the obtaining of planning permission for project proposals, subject to environmental impact assessment as necessary.

From an Irish perspective the potential benefits being examined include jobs created, community gain, interconnection benefits, corporation tax receipts and rates paid to local authorities. A full cost-benefit analysis is ongoing to determine if it is mutually beneficial for Ireland and the United Kingdom to enter an intergovernmental agreement in the coming months to facilitate trade in renewable energy. The amount of energy to be procured by the UK and the mechanisms for sharing the resultant economic benefits, including an appropriate return to the Exchequer, are among the matters to be addressed ahead of signing any intergovernmental agreement.

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