Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 131: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if he will provide details on the forthcoming Single Electricity Market Bill; when it will be fully published and made available to Dáil Éireann; the impact of the SEM Bill on CER; if there will now be a single all island energy regulator; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38826/06]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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The Electricity Regulation (Amendment) (Single Electricity Market) Bill 2006, which was published on 20 November, provides for the establishment and operation of a single competitive wholesale electricity market on the island of Ireland.

The Bill will, inter alia, provide a framework for the performance of the functions of the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) relating to the single electricity market (SEM). These functions will be undertaken by a newly established SEM Committee, which will be a sub-committee of both the CER and its Northern Ireland counterpart, the Northern Ireland Authority for Energy Regulation (NIAER).

The Bill will not establish an all-island regulator. This issue is identified in the All-island Energy Market Development Framework launched in November 2004, as one to be considered, in consultation with the Northern authorities, at a later stage once the primary objective of establishing a single electricity market has been achieved.