Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The decision on that index-linking issue relates to the T-3 and T-4 auctions, which will not come next year, and it is in 2024 and 2025 when that generation was always expected to come. The generation that is due next year is the emergency procurement and emergency purchasing, which is done to close the gap from the failure of the auction back in 2019 to deliver a similar quantity of about 700 MW of power. As I said, I am very confident now that, on procurement, the first transfer of 250 MW will be delivered next year and the 450 MW additional is on track, but the key constraint in regard to how quickly that happens will be the planning system.

In that, or through the legislation we have passed here, we have given a clear direction to An Bord Pleanála and mechanisms to accelerate the planning and to ensure that happens. In reality, that is probably the biggest challenge. We are meeting EirGrid and CRU to assist as part of our ongoing reviews of the delivery of that. We need all three, the emergency procurement, the purchasing, and, critically, the T-3 and T-4 auction supplies, which will come in later years, in 2024 and 2025.

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