94 Mr. O'Toole asked the Minister for Energy if he will give an up to date progress report on the restructuring and modernisation of the Cork Gas Company.

Cork Gas Company became a subsidiary of Bord Gáis Éireannn in 1985 and since then has been operated as a wholly owned subsidiary. It now forms part of the BGÉ southern region group with the operations at Limerick, Clonmel and Waterford.

Since 1985, £5.5 million has been spent on the Cork network — £2.7 million on new pipelines and £2.8 million on upgrading of mains and services.

Gas sales have increased from 5.8 million therms in 1984 to 13.4 million therms in 1989. Annual appliances sales have increased from 500 to 5,300.