I thought the Deputy knew it all and that it would be boring for him. I was bowing to his intelligence. I will read the full reply.
Both I and my Department have undertaken an extensive consultation process to date on implementing the EU electricity directive in Ireland by February 2000.
The process has included the following: a detailed paper prepared and published in May 1997 by my Department and the previous Minister setting out proposals for implementing the directive; a discussion forum organised by my Department in January 1998 to promote the widest possible consideration of the suggested changes in the sector; and a further consultation document, distilling and incorporating many of the suggestions received, published in May 1998.
As part of the consultation process, both I and my officials have had a number of meetings with parties about proposals for the restructuring of the electricity industry. These included several meetings with the ESB group of unions during 1998, meeting the board and management of the ESB, meeting IBEC, consumer interests, prospective market entrants, including both Marathon and Viridian in September, and I met with IVO/ELF last week. I will continue to consult all interested parties.
It is clear from the extensive consultation which has taken place that the industry fully supports the early establishment of an independent regulatory commission.
The group of unions have made submissions in response to the consultation documents. They are far too detailed to reproduce here but I am arranging to send the Deputy copies of their comments.
One of the main concerns of the ESB group of unions is that there will be no barrier to the ESB competing in the eligible customer market. It is my intention that the ESB will be able to compete in that market segment on a fair and equitable basis and this is provided for in the Electricity Regulation Bill currently before the House.
All comments and consultations received to date were carefully considered when preparing the current Bill which I presented to the Dáil on 3 February last and will be further considered when preparing the balance of the legislation for the full implementation of the EU directive.
The second item of legislation later this year will deal with the conversion of the ESB from a statutory corporation to a public limited company under the Companies Acts. It will also address matters such as the establishment of an independent electricity transmission systems operator and a licensed public electricity supplier and will provide for the unbundling of accounts for electricity undertakings.
The dates of the meetings are as follows: I met the ESB group of unions on 27 March, 1 April, 11 June, 7 July, 26 August, 2 October and three weeks ago. I met Marathon on 10 September, Viridian on 10 September, IBEC on 3 June, the Small Firms' Association on 20 August and IVO/ELF on 11 February. I met a representative group of the unions three weeks ago and their main point at that meeting was the trading mechanism. The two options available are the pool system and the spin system. I told them at the end of the meeting that we hoped to reach a middle way between the two sides.