Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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81. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will report on his engagements with Eirgrid. [6705/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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EirGrid is a commercial State body under the aegis of my Department and was established under Regulation 50 of the European Communities (Internal Market in Electricity) Regulations 2000. EirGrid is a body corporate and a separate legal entity to the Department and Minister.

As a matter of course I, as Minister, will regularly meet with the Chair and CEO or equivalent of the Agencies under the aegis of my Department. I had my first meeting with the Chair and the acting CEO this week to discuss specific infrastructure issues.

It is important to note that Government does not have any role in the delivery of electricity infrastructure on the ground. This is consistent with the 2012 Government Policy Statement on the Strategic Importance of Transmission and Other Energy Infrastructure which states: “The Government does not seek to direct EirGrid and ESB Networks or other energy infrastructure developers to particular sites or routes or technologies”. However EirGrid will inform my officials and me of the progress of certain key projects. The design of projects, for example the choice of whether to construct a line above ground or under ground is a technical matter for EirGrid.

There is frequent and ongoing engagement with the Chair, management and staff in the bodies under my aegis at official level on all matters of mutual interest. This includes regular scheduled taskforces, working group and quarterly governance meetings, in addition to ad hoc engagement on issues arising.

For example, under the accelerating Renewable Electricity Taskforce, a working group has been established, of which EirGrid is a member, which is tasked with accelerating delivery of the onshore electricity grid. This working group will identify issues which are slowing delivery of the grid and will leverage cross-government action to alleviate these.

As part of regular corporate governance processes my officials meet on a quarterly basis with the bodies under the aegis of the Department. These meetings with EirGrid are attended by my officials, officials from the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery, and Reform along with colleagues from NewERA.