Speech by Minister for Trade and Commerce, Mr John McGuinness TD, at the Launch of I.S. 370:2007 Relating to the Colour Coding of Buried Plastic Piping

Wednesday 31^st October 2007

Ladies and gentlemen, I am honoured to be present with you today to unveil a vital standard relating to the utility industries, in particular the electricity, gas, telecoms and water supply industries.

Given that interference with gas and electricity networks presents the greatest potential hazards and are defined in EU commission policies as "critical energy infrastructures", I would like to focus most of the remainder of my speech on these sectors.

We all know that economic development is dependent on sufficient sources of energy – oil, gas, electricity, coal, and others. Latest statistics from the CSO illustrate that we used the oil equivalent of fourteen point eight million tonnes of primary energy. The main users are transport at four point five million tonnes; residential at two point seven million tonnes and industry consuming two point one million tonnes of energy.

Ireland has one of the fastest growing electricity markets in the developed world – it has grown by over forty per cent in the past ten years, far ahead of growth in the rest of Europe. As the primary electricity provider in the country, the ESB has one point eight million customers in both the domestic and business domains.

The National Grid is an electricity transmission network of over six thousand five hundred kilometres of overhead lines and underground cables throughout the country. It operates at high voltages – of up to four hundred thousand volts – in order to transport in bulk over distances as efficiently as possible.

Ireland’s electricity network has undergone a major refurbishment programme in the last couple of years, costing an estimated three billion euro. ESB Networks is conscious of its responsibility to provide a safe and secure electricity infrastructure with due regard to protecting people, property and the natural environment.

The other major player in the Irish energy industry – Bord Gáis – has five hundred and seventy-five thousand gas customers and eleven thousand nine hundred and thirty-four kilometres of pipeline network. It has devoted one point five billion euro in its infrastructure investment programme for mains renewal among other initiatives.

Bord Gáis Networks is responsible for all gas network safety and maintenance. It builds and operates the natural gas pipeline network to recognised Irish and international utility safety standards. As a result of extensive capital investment in recent years, together with very stringent operating and management procedures, its networks are among the most modern and safe in the world.

However, no amount of investment or sense of responsibility can protect from third party interference to the underground networks. Outages affecting the more vulnerable members of society can be very serious; for example, think about hospitals and nursing homes struggling to cope without vital life-saving appliances and machinery. Industrial users are also hard hit by disruptions in services; it causes them loss of earnings, interruptions to processes and a loss of product. Impacts on traffic are also felt, and then there is the wasted use of Gardaí and firebrigade time and resources.

I therefore wholeheartedly welcome the NSAI’s development of this new standard. It comes at an important juncture in Irish infrastructure development, as the launch of the single electricity market between Northern Ireland and the Republic approaches next week. Full gas market opening down to householder level took place recently, in July 2007, while the Irish electricity market was fully opened to competition in February 2005.In addition, the Government’s publication of an Energy White Paper entitled “Delivering a Sustainable Energy Future for Ireland” earlier this year describes the actions and targets for the energy policy framework until 2020. The Paper sets a clear path for meeting the Government’s goals of ensuring safe and secure energy supplies, promoting a sustainable energy future and supporting competitiveness. With our ever-increasing population and thus demands on energy supply, safety issues such as the proper identification of pipes is paramount.

Finally the effective protection of other essential infrastructures such as the telecoms and the water networks is imperative and I am sure that this new standard will assist in this goal.

It now gives me great pleasure to accept Irish Standard three hundred and seventy (I.S. 370).

ENDS/TC302