Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

I will not rise to the bait in that regard. No matter who is in power, and I have a good idea who it will be, it is important that the focus on energy efficiency continues.

A number of Senators asked about the benefit of the interconnector and the single electricity market, SEM. The SEM represents stage 1 in the creation of a regional electricity market in Ireland. Stage 2 will be facilitated by interconnection to the UK system and onwards to the system in continental Europe. We are committed over the lifetime of the White Paper to becoming a regional market, in line with EU energy policy. We are working with the UK towards that goal and the UK is working with France, the Netherlands and Belgium, among others. Within ten years there will be a regional market where electricity will be bought and sold and will flow in both directions and obviously the interconnectors are important to that. I had discussions with EirGrid and the CER on Monday to ensure substantial progress is being made. I am satisfied the dates we have at present, not later than 2012 for the east-west system and 2011 for the north-south system, can be met. It is always a risk to predict how long the planning process will take but assuming everything goes well, we will meet those targets.

I thank Senators for their welcome for the provisions of this Bill. It is important that we work together on this and I look forward to more detailed consideration on Committee Stage next week, with the overall objective of adding the Bill to the Statute Book as soon as possible, staying in line with the timetable in Westminster.