ESB Networks has warned Irish officials that a new European law designed to boost the continent’s manufacturing industry could make it harder to build the electricity grid, and so worsen delays in connecting new homes.
Internal emails seen by The Irish Times, released under Freedom of Information, show the semi-State company is worried about a draft EU law known as the Industrial Accelerator Act. The law is better known as the “Made in Europe” legislation.
ESB Networks is responsible for connecting newly built homes to the electricity grid. Housing projects have been held up in the past because developers have had to wait for ESB crews to connect properties to the network.
What ESB told the Government? In an email sent on July 1 to the Department of Public Expenditure, ESB Networks managing director Nicholas Tarrant said that restrictions on the company’s business and contracts “would represent a risk to our ability to build at the pace required to support housing, the economy and climate action.” He said the new rules would place “restrictions on our ability to procure equipment on a global basis.” Mr Tarrant added that he supports the broad aim of helping European manufacturing.
ESB Networks fears that proposed “buy European” clauses could apply to the materials it uses to build the physical grid, such as cables and electrical transformers.
The company also sent officials a paper from DSO Entity, a European umbrella body for the companies and organisations that build electricity grids. The paper warned that requiring cables and other grid components to be sourced from EU manufacturers could lead to “high prices and limited supply” of key materials, because the industry is already struggling to buy grid equipment.
What the law would do? The European Commission published its proposal in March 2026. It would attach conditions to future public funding for projects in certain “strategic” sectors, requiring a share of the money to go to European suppliers and manufacturers. The law is being pushed by France as a way to protect Europe’s car and steel industries, and to help Europe catch up on renewable energy and green technology.
The EU’s 27 governments have spent months arguing over how wide the law should be. A key dispute is whether the preference should apply only to suppliers based in the EU, or follow a broader approach that includes the UK and other European partners outside the union. Earlier this year, the Irish presidency circulated a compromise text that introduced a new category called “partner origin.”
Ireland holds the EU presidency for the second half of this year and is chairing the talks in Brussels. Diplomats hope the 27 governments can agree a common position next month. After that, negotiations will begin with MEPs in the European Parliament.
ESB’s position. A spokesman said it is still unclear whether the law’s “buy European” rules would extend to contracts for grid equipment. “While ESB Networks supports the objective of increasing manufacturing capacity in Europe, and the associated decarbonisation goals, we believe the IAA should not restrict the ability of utility companies to source essential grid equipment through global supply chains until sufficient European grid equipment manufacturing capacity exists,” he said. A “strict interpretation” of the law, he said, would increase costs and lengthen the timelines for delivering new infrastructure.
Why it matters? Connection times have been improving. An ESB executive told a Construction Industry Federation conference last month that connecting new homes to the grid, which would once have taken six months or longer, has been sped up by changes made with the Government’s infrastructure taskforce. ESB Networks also made more than 38,000 residential connections last year, up 18% on the year before.
The warning shows how a trade policy debated in Brussels could affect Irish housing, at a time when the Government is under pressure to increase the supply of new homes.
