John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Question 85: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the intended management structure in the new three person energy regulator following the appointment of two new additional commissioners; if the conditions and rank of each commissioner are the same; and the way in which decisions from the regulator have to be approved among the three commissioners. [14552/05]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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The three Commissioners for Energy Regulation have equal rank while Commissioner, Tom Reeves, has been appointed as chairman. As required by the Electricity Regulation Act 1999, the commissioners' terms and conditions of appointment are fixed with the consent of the Minister for Finance. The contractual arrangements entered into with each of the three commissioners received such consent. Apart from remuneration, the terms and conditions of the contracts in respect of the commissioners appointed in 2004 and 2005 are the same. They both differ in certain aspects, including remuneration, to the contract signed by the chairman in 2004, which effectively extended his existing contractual arrangements for a second term of office.

Internal management arrangements are a matter for the commission. I understand, however, that the commission has agreed that each commissioner will have lead responsibility for overseeing particular areas of the commission's work and that there will be joint decisions by the commissioners on all matters of significance.

I would also inform the Deputy that I will shortly be proposing to Government, in the interest of efficient business practice, that the chairman should have a casting vote. An identical provision exists in the Communications Regulation Act 2002 in the case of the Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg.