Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for that reply. He mentioned the Celtic interconnector, which is a very important and welcome development for this country. It is hoped that when we develop renewable sources, electricity will be exported by the interconnector and it will help guarantee our supply. Last week, I received a reply from the Minister's Department to a parliamentary question, which said that as part of the climate action plan the State intends that a total of €13.7 billion will be put into energy investment by 2027. That is good but that is all the information the Department gave me. How much of that investment is expected to come from the State? Will there be matching funding from the private sector? Will it be through PPPs? It will not, I hope, be done through a gap-funded model similar to the broadband plan.

The big question is this. We know that the private sector will not do this on its own and that we have very successful semi-State companies, such as the ESB, Bord na Móna and Coillte. Will those companies be big players in this?

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