Deal may damage investment in North, UUP warns

THE SALE of NIE to ESB could “damage inward investment and businesses” in Northern Ireland according to Ulster Unionists, who claim the deal could create a “virtual monopoly ownership of the grid by the Irish State”.

Sir Reg Empey, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and the North’s Minister for Employment and Learning, is vehemently opposed to any deal between the two parties while the ESB remains a State-owned utility.

Earlier this year he warned that he would personally find any tie between the two organisations unacceptable. Sir Reg was unavailable for comment yesterday. His party colleague Tom Elliott has also protested against the sale to ESB while it “remains in the ownership and control of the Fianna Fáil-led government in Dublin”.

In a similar vein, Jim Allister, the leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice, has described the proposed billion-euro deal as a “catastrophic move”.

“It will leave the government of the Republic of Ireland with a dominant position in almost every aspect of energy generation, supply, distribution and retail across the island. It makes a nonsense of all British and European policy regarding the unbundling of energy network and the promotion of competitive markets,” Mr Allister added.

But while unionist parties in the North may oppose the ESB’s major expansion across the Border, it has been welcomed by nationalist politicians. Sinn Féin economy spokesman Mitchel McLaughlin said it was a “welcome and progressive move”.

“The benefits to consumers of one energy transmission and distribution provider are obvious. It will assist in all-Ireland harmonisation and should deliver efficiencies through elimination of duplication of resources resulting in lower energy prices to consumers, ” Mr McLaughlin said.

The SDLP’s enterprise spokesman, Alasdair McDonnell, described the takeover of NIE’s electricity grid by the ESB as good sense. But he warned that in the short term the merger needed to be accompanied with “guarantees on jobs and security of supply”.

The sale of NIE marks the biggest shake-up in the local market since its immediate parent company, the Viridian Group, was acquired by the Bahrain-based bank Arcapita as part of a deal worth more than £1.6 billion four years ago. About 1,300 people are employed by NIE and the North’s Minister of Enterprise Arlene Foster said she has received assurances regarding the importance of “securing existing jobs”.

Ms Foster said she had also received guarantees about future investments and the importance of maintaining the identity of the electricity network business in Northern Ireland.

The Minister said governments North and South are committed to increasing levels of renewable power generation on the island.