Vol. 512 No. 3
37 Mr. Currie asked the Minister for Public Enterprise if she will itemise the opportunities for mutual benefit in North-South co-operation in all forms of energy in view of the creation of the Northern Ireland Executive; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26150/99]
Earlier today the Minister of State, Deputy Jacob, and I met Sir Reg Empey, the Northern Ireland Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, and we had a very good discussion. We agreed to pursue urgently the upgrading of the main North-South electricity interconnector from 280mw to 400mw. The cost of the upgrading, which is estimated at £15 million, will be borne by both the ESB and Northern Ireland Electricity, supported by grant aid from the EU.
The work is expected to take 18 months. This will be a concrete example of North-South co-operation and will be of benefit to electricity consumers on both sides of the Border.
We also reviewed developments in the gas sector. The opening of the gas market in the South has paved the way for a market-led response to rising gas demand here. As the Deputy knows, there is a good deal of ongoing co-operation between both sides on energy matters.
We agreed to put a more formal arrangement in place by way of regular ministerial meetings, supported by a working group of officials, which will meet formally on a regular basis with a view to building on the existing co-operation and achieving the obvious synergies in the respective energy markets.
Deputy Currie has been asking this question for some time. As I said when I met him informally, I could not help feeling, when I met Reg Empey today, that it is all beginning to happen. I thought it was common-sense history, and he agreed with that.
As the Minister said, I have been raising this matter for a long time and, like other matters I have raised, it is good to see them come to fruition.
It is. The role the Deputy played in all this is very genuine.
I thank the Minister. She will agree it is a good sign that at this early stage of the Northern Ireland Executive, Reg Empey has come here for these discussions. Long may that continue and perhaps we will soon reach the stage where no one will pay much attention to these meetings. Co-operation in energy matters was not included in the implementation bodies or the other proposals for closer co-operation, not because there was no possibility of close co-operation but for political reasons. My question asked the Minister to itemise the opportunities for co-operation, but she only mentioned two or three.
Would she care to elaborate on that? Does the Minister agree that, to a large extent, everything seems to be held up by the Corrib field? This cannot be allowed to continue forever. How long is it expected before we get sufficient information about the Corrib field to be able to take decisions?
Transport is one of the areas of mutual co-operation but energy is not. The Minister of State, Deputy Jacob, Sir Reg Empey and I discussed the issue today and we came to the conclusion that while there is not an implementation body in this regard, the issue will elbow its way forward in any case. Today's meeting was a replacement for a meeting which was held when Sir Reg Empey was not in office – he was careful to emphasise that and I respect his wishes. It is practical and commonsensical that interconnectors would be updated. That will assist the ESB and it will assist competition because third parties, with the regulator on either side, will be able to gain access. That will be beneficial to the enhancement of competition and the increase of capacity.
We should have an opinion on the commercial viability of the Corrib field prior to Christmas or shortly after it. The matter hinges on whether the field will be dealt with in a North-South, Wales-Ireland or Scotland-Ireland context. The commercial viability of the field will determine which of those will be used.
Agenda 2010 relates to energy efficiency and environmentally friendly policies. We also held lengthy discussions on that. This area is just beginning to flower and I believe people will quickly wonder why it did not form the basis of an implementation body or area of co-operation.
I can answer that. It did not constitute one of the implementation bodies because it was decided that it would be adding too much to emphasise co-operation in energy and, for political reasons, that did not happen. Does the Minister agree that the quicker we find out about the commercial viability of the Corrib field, the better? She stated that we should have an opinion on that before Christmas. The Minister will then know the basis of the next question I will ask because she will not be answering questions again until after Christmas.
