Irish state-owned energy companies could end up jointly investing in projects with GB Energy, a new British renewable energy company that is being set up with £8.3 billion (€9.8 billion) of UK taxpayer funding, according to Minister for Environment, Eamon Ryan.
Speaking in London on Wednesday after meeting Ed Miliband, Britain’s energy secretary, Mr Ryan confirmed the Republic “will be looking to co-operate” with GB Energy, which is being set up as part of a manifesto commitment by the new Labour government.
GB Energy, which will be headquartered in Aberdeen, will invest in clean energy projects such as offshore wind. Mr Ryan highlighted that ESB, for example, is already an investor in similar energy infrastructure in Britain.
“Collaboration is very common in this sector because the scale of the projects is so large. You don’t do it as a sole operator,” he said.
Mr Ryan is the fourth senior Irish Cabinet member to visit Britain in just 10 days, following visits to London last week by Minister for Finance Jack Chambers and Paschal Donohoe, the Minister for Public Expenditure. Micheál Martin, the Tánaiste, was also in Oxford at the weekend.
The recent two-way parade of Irish and British politicians to each other’s countries – UK prime minister Keir Starmer visited Dublin last weekend – is part of the “reset” of Anglo-Irish relations pursued by both administrations since Labour’s election victory in July.
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“I think Ed [Miliband] is the sixth British energy minister I’ve met in four or five years,” said Mr Ryan. “I think he is likely to last a bit longer than the others.”
The minister said his meeting Mr Miliband focused on the possibility of Ireland and Britain opening more electricity interconnectors linking their respective grids.
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There are already two in operation – the Moyle link between Scotland and the North, as well as the East-West Interconnector (Ewic) between Dublin and the Wales/England border.
A third interconnector, the Greenlink cable between Wexford and Wales, is close to being “fired up” said the minister. “We’re looking for further interconnectors,” he said.
The Minister raised the possibility of building three-way interconnectors between Ireland, Britain and Belgium. He said it is “strategically really important” for Ireland to build more such links.
Mr Ryan, who is also the Minister for Transport, is also due to meet Britain’s transport secretary, Louise Haigh, in London on Thursday.
The Minister suggested he was supportive of the idea of providing a special channel at Dublin Airport for arrivals from within the Common Travel Area (CTA) with Britain, which is supposed to guarantee passport-free travel for British and Irish citizens travelling between the two nations.
However, while the CTA is observed at most British airports, where Irish arrivals are herded through passport-free domestic channels, arrivals in Dublin from Britain are routinely directed through passport control. Irish domestic flights from Kerry and Donegal are also directed through passport control at Dublin Airport.
Mr Ryan said it is a “Department of Justice issue”, as it controls ports of entry, but he suggested that Dublin Airport could build a passport-free channel for arrivals as part of its development plans. He said he finds it “hard to believe” that the issue could not be solved.
“Surely it would be possible to have a stream that is not required to go through [passport control].”
Mr Ryan also rejected recent suggestions from Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary that he, as minister, could intervene to abolish the 32 million passenger cap that constrains Dublin Airport. He said a “false narrative” had emerged that he could change the cap by ministerial order.
It was a matter of planning law between Dublin Airport, Fingal County Council and An Bord Pleanála, he said. Referring to the airport, he said the “ball is in their court” to pursue it under planning rules.
The minister is due to step down as a TD at the next election, but will continue to run the departments of Transport and the environment until then.
