Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 36: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will comment on reports that he has called for a partial break up of Bord Gáis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23044/10]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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I have never called for a partial break up of Bord Gáis Éireann. The Deputy may be referring to the requirements under the EU Third Energy Package, to separate customer and energy supply from the transmission and distribution networks in vertically integrated energy utilities.

The EU Third Energy Package entered into force on 3 September 2009 and the various Directives will be transposed into Irish law by the due date of March 2011. The Package requires Member States to further unbundle gas transmission system operations from supply. In the case of vertically integrated gas undertakings such as Bord Gáis Éireann (BGÉ), the separation of transmission and distribution businesses from customer supply, is legally required no later than March 2012.

There are three legal options available under the Third Package. The option of Full Ownership Unbundling, requires the complete separation of the networks business from supply. The second option requires the setting up of an Independent System Operator. This is a less radical split, designed to ensure that the networks system operates independently. The third option of an Independent Transmission Operator, provides that transmission networks are maintained within the utility in a completely ring-fenced structure.

My Department has been engaged in analysing the most appropriate unbundling model for BGÉ that complies with the Third Package and works best for the Company and the State as shareholder. In that context my Department commissioned external advice in order to fully inform an assessment of the optimum future structure for BGÉ's transmission system operator under the Package.

Both my Department and I have had discussions with the BGÉ Group of Unions and liaison is ongoing. My Department is also liaising with the Employee Share Ownership Trust on its perspective on the matter. In conjunction with my colleague the Minister for Finance, I expect to come to a final view shortly on the most appropriate model for Bord Gáis Éireann under the Package.

The EU Third Energy Package also introduces new rules for the promotion of regional and bilateral cooperation between energy transmission system operators and regulators leading to the establishment of regional gas markets. These objectives dovetail closely with work underway by the Regulators North and South on developing Common Arrangements for Gas for the island.