Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 27 March 2025
147. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to provide an update on the Gas Network Ireland plans to split the station at Brighouse Bay.; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14872/25]
View answerGas Networks Ireland (GNI) is a statutory body under the auspices of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, as the majority-shareholding Minister.
I, as Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, hold responsibility for gas policy.
Brighouse Bay compressor station compresses the natural gas which has been transported through GNI (UK)’s two onshore transmission pipelines in Southwest Scotland, for onward distribution through the two sub-sea interconnectors to the Isle of Man and Ireland.
I am advised that in 2024, Gas Networks Ireland completed a project to split the physical operation of the Brighouse Bay Compressor Station.
I am further advised that prior to the completion of this Brighouse splitting project, the gas flows entering the Brighouse Bay station converged into a single section of pipework before entering the two individual compressor halls. This section of pipe had been noted as a Single Point of Failure (SPOF) in the Security of Supply (EU Regulation 2017/1938) Risk Assessment which is submitted by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) to the European Commission every two years.
This Brighouse splitting project has removed this single point of failure on the GNI network in Scotland, thereby reducing the security of supply risk for the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man.
