Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 27 May 2026

Vol. 1086 No. 4

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Ceisteanna ó na Comhaltaí Eile - Other Members’ Questions

Deputy Barry Heneghan

I was great to hear the Taoiseach mentioning No Mow May. If he would like a beehive, I will give him one. I have 17. I know the Department of justice has them on the roof; it would be great to see them on Government Buildings as well.

Constantly in this House I have raised the issue of private wires and the current system of energy. I was elected to this House seven months after I finished my master's degree in DCU, which focused on data centres and waste heat utilisation. One of the main things we learned about was the current system of EirGrid and ESB, and its failures. When I found myself involved in Government formation, one of the priorities for me was private wires. My Bill is ready. I have submitted it to the Bills Office. I see the frustration across the country about our energy costs. EirGrid has had nine months to put a code index into the grid to fix an issue. Because data centres need a constant stream of energy, we need to reduce curtailment and the dispatch down. This code index can help renewable projects. The Irish public is currently paying fossil fuel prices for energy when we have tens if not hundreds of renewable projects waiting for grid connections.

Yesterday, I raised the issue of CIÉ charging a solar farm that is ready and built. Over €450,000 has been allocated in respect of a job that will take one day. Why are semi-State companies allowed to charge such an extortionate amount that will eventually end up with the Irish public? The families paying energy bill every month deserve nothing less than action. I will again mention plug-in solar. We are at a point where renewable energy generation is being reduced. We are wasting clean energy while households are paying the price.

The concept of a private wire is simple. It is a direct cable from a renewable source such as a solar farm, a wind turbine or a battery energy storage system. There is no grid queue and no six-year wait. My Bill would give more powers to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, to have a six-month timeline. In view of people's worries about job losses and the global situation at the moment, we need to increase Irish jobs. We can do so with my Bill. I spent 18 months developing the Bill. I now see why things take time, but it is done and has the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers, OPLA, stamp. It will help SMEs, community energy projects and battery storage. It contains a line that would make any project being used by a private company give a proportionate amount to a community benefit fund.

The Government's current proposal for the private wires system limits it to four specific circumstances. My proposal does not. It would help community energy and SMEs, and the CRU confirmed to me at the committee of which I am a member last week - I should be at this week's meeting now - that private wires could facilitate more renewables than might be the case at present. We are losing foreign direct investment to countries with cheaper, cleaner and more certain energy. I was at the wind energy conference yesterday.

An Ceann Comhairle

Thank you, Deputy.

Deputy Barry Heneghan

Does the Taoiseach agree that it is time to cut the red tape-----

An Ceann Comhairle

Taoiseach to respond.

Deputy Barry Heneghan

------and back the CRU with more funding in order to enable it to act?

The Taoiseach

I thank the Deputy and commend him on the work he is doing on this issue. It is a particular focus for him. He identified it as a key priority for him, on his election to Dáil Éireann, and for inclusion in the programme for Government. The private wires Bill for which the Minister has received sanction from the Government is priority legislation. The intention is to publish a draft Bill in the coming months - I think prior to the summer recess - with a target that the Bill will complete its passage through the Oireachtas later this year. An detailed, expedited delivery plan will also be published. That will detail targeted, time-bound actions to swiftly operationalise the regulatory regime.

The Deputy is about to publish his Bill. The Department and Minister will engage with him and examine it in detail. I believe the Minister has met the Deputy about it already. I have spoken to the Minister on a number of occasions putting the pressure on to get this Bill through because private wires will provide greater opportunities for electricity consumers and generators and will lead to increased competitiveness and sustainability. As the Deputy will be aware, the Government approved the general scheme last December.

It is interesting that April was the third month in a row where more than 50% of our electricity was generated from renewables. The Deputy's point about renewables and dispatch down is significant. We are conscious of it, although battery storage is improving all the time and is increasing significantly across the country.

The joint committee has undertaken pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of the private wires Bill. Its report was published at the end of April. The Department is now looking at the recommendations which, perhaps, the Deputy, and others made at that committee. It is also looking at and developing the expedited delivery plan, which will set out the key actions to take forward to swiftly operationalise the regime from a regulatory perspective. The Bill, once enacted, will give the CRU powers to create the necessary regulations to oversee private wire developments, including in respect of safety and technical standards and a licensing framework.

Ultimately, we want to make sure that this can contribute to customers and to the broader story in the context of complementarity with the national grid. There are issues that have to be worked out in terms of the potential interaction between private wires and the national grid.

Deputy Barry Heneghan

I welcome the progress on the Government's Bill. I hope it will absorb the proposal I am putting forward. The cost to Irish households is already runs into hundreds of millions if not billions of euro because of these delays. I welcome the Government's general scheme. It contains 47 recommendations. I answered as to how my Bill would tackle those 47 recommendations, and I will submit my answers to the Minister. The technology is available. The Taoiseach mentioned battery storage, and I welcome that the Taoiseach met those involved in that regard. We need to make sure that both the eventual Bill and everything that we do in this House prioritise the Irish people. I welcome that CRU oversight has been examined but I would love there to be more engagement on my Bill as a basis for faster delivery and for there to be confirmation that private wires will officially serve SMEs, community energy and the Irish consumers more than large-scale generation. There is a role for large-scale generation. I am not living in the clouds, because I understand that 50,000 jobs are directly or indirectly linked.

An Ceann Comhairle

Thank you, Deputy. Taoiseach to respond.

Deputy Barry Heneghan

There are more jobs to be created. We could get hundreds of thousands of jobs-----

An Ceann Comhairle

Time is up, Deputy, please.

Deputy Barry Heneghan

-----for welders, all types of technician and engineers and this is why it needs to be done.

The Taoiseach

Private wires will allow for direct connection between generation and the customer where it is more efficient to do so than connecting to the national grid. Private wires will also provide an alternative connection mechanism from renewable projects to customers. As far as I am concerned, large-scale generation can be positive as well for SMEs. I will talk to the Minister about the aspects the Deputy feels are not covered the general scheme. That is the whole purpose of his engaging with the Minister about his legislative proposals. It is also the purpose of the work of the committee in its pre-legislative consideration process, which has been completed.

Private wires will create options for renewable energy developers. The development of the regime has been supported by the renewable energy sector since the public consultation in 2023. Obviously, it will also serve national climate objectives.

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