Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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122. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment further to Parliamentary Question No. 802 of 26 April 2022, if he will clarify further issues of concern (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22505/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I can confirm that the State holds a 96.1% share in ESB with the remaining 3.9% held by the Trustee of the Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP). ESB is a commercial state company and the Minister does not have a statutory function in any of the day-to-day operations of the business. As shareholding Ministers, however, some commercial or financial matters, such as borrowing limits or acquisition or disposal of certain assets, are referred for consent to the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in accordance with the relevant statutory or Corporate Governance requirements. 

Electric Ireland is the supply division of ESB.

As with all electricity and gas supply companies, Electric Ireland is responsible for its own commercial and operational affairs, in accordance with factors such as overall company strategic direction and developments in cost base.

More broadly, the electricity and gas retail markets in Ireland operate within a European Union regulatory regime, in which electricity and gas markets are commercial, liberalised, and competitive.

Operating within this overall EU framework, responsibility for the regulation of the Irish electricity and gas markets is solely a matter for the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) as an independent statutory regulator. It is accountable for the performance of its functions to the Oireachtas, and not to the Minister.