I again advise members of the constitutional requirement that they must be physically present within the confines of the Leinster Hose complex in order to participate in public meetings. Members are also reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice that they should not criticise or make charges against any person or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable, or otherwise engage in speech that might be regarded as damaging to the good name of the person or entity. Therefore, if a member’s statements are potentially defamatory in relation to an identifiable person or entity, he or she will be directed to discontinue his or her remarks. It is imperative that they comply with any such direction.

The first item on the agenda is the minutes of the meeting on 10 December. They have been circulated. Are they agreed? Agreed.

The next item is a note on future committee meetings in January. We are meeting on 14, 21 and 28 January. The Minister, Deputy Chambers's, report and action plan on accelerating infrastructure is down for discussion on 28 January. We had a meeting with the Office of Public Works scheduled in November, which we postponed on our side. I suggest we ask those representatives to come back in on 14 January. I propose that on 21 January - a couple of members have asked for this - we invite in EirGrid, which is involved in energy electricity transmission, and Bord na Móna, which is now a completely renewable energy company that has nothing to do with anything other than that. It has divested itself this year of waste collection and so on and is involved in green energy exclusively. A couple of the members asked at the last meeting that the IDA be brought in with them. There is good logic in that, given that foreign direct investment companies are very high users of electricity, and we want to hear about the requirements of foreign direct investment in Ireland in relation to the provision and transmission of electricity. That is why EirGrid, Bord na Móna and the IDA would be a very good match on that topic. I propose we proceed to invite them in on 21 January. Those are the three meetings proposed for January. I ask the committee to agree that if one of those bodies falls out, the secretariat and I will substitute somebody in, instead of having a blank calendar for a week. That is agreed.

We have two items of correspondence today. No. 0070 is from Seán Murphy, head of public affairs at ESB Networks. The correspondence was received from ESB Networks following the recent committee hearing. ESB Networks was asked to revert in writing on a number of items. I will go into the particular correspondence. There is a lot of information in this and I will ask members to discuss it. The ESB has said it had approximately 35 new connections up to the end of November of this year. It gives details of the new connections year on year. It is a four-page, detailed letter containing charts showing the new connections based on apartments, housing and rural domestic. It also give us indications of work carried out between 2021 and the end of 2025, in terms of upgraded or updated new overhead lines, refurbished overhead lines and underground cables. The ESB has given us figures for its projections for the next five years, which represent a dramatic increase on what has happened in the past five years. I propose that we write back to the ESB acknowledging that. It also sets out a realistic plan for how it is going to make such a massive increase. For example, it is talking about the overhead power lines being upgraded from 280 km over the past five years to 900 km in the next five years. Let us hope it all happens, but we want to ask what level of an implementation plan and finance the ESB has. That is such important information, more so than what we got on the day. I propose that the committee will issue, through the secretariat, a press release on that stating what we are looking for. We will get more information. It is fantastic if it is all deliverable, but that is the main issue.

The second item of correspondence was from the Commission for Regulation of Utilities. There is a detailed document that provides information about the connection policy for large energy users, which runs to 133 pages. That is reading for over Christmas or New Year's Eve, or whenever members want to do those things. We note and will publish those two items. That is the main thing we will do.

The next item is our meeting with the National Transport Authority. We are now going to suspend for a moment while the witnesses take their seats.