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I want to return to the question of data centres and the threat posed by power cuts to thousands of households, including some of the most vulnerable people in the country, this coming winter and beyond. Those affected face losing their heating on freezing cold nights. As warned by Professor John FitzGerald, who heads up the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, there is potential for hypothermia among old people. This is not just to do with the limitation on energy; it has very much to do with the increased cost of electricity and the rising price of carbon.

To go back to the issue of the data centres, because it is very much connected to the overall problem we are having, I will relay some of the facts again. I am aware that Members were all listening to the debate this morning but I was not. There are currently 70 data centres operating in Ireland, which represents a 25% increase by comparison with 2020. Dublin has the largest number of data centres and has now become the hub for them in Europe. This represents an annual increase in demand of around 600 GW, the equivalent of 140,000 households per year being added to the grid. Would that it were 140,000 new homes per year; that would be marvellous. It is not a matter of new homes, however; it is a matter of data centres. Over 2020, we saw a 27% increase in gas demand from the data centres.

Let me quote some very representative bodies that look after our energy. EirGrid has stated:

The rate at which data centres are seeking to grow their load is unprecedented. Over the last 4 years we have seen annual increases in demand usage of around 600 GWh […] – equivalent to the addition of 140,000 households ...

According to EirGrid, the key demand is data centres, and the median demand predicts data centres accounting for 25% of all demand by 2030. The CRU has said that the types of projections EirGrid has given it indicate that electricity demand is to rise by between one third and 50% by 2030, primarily driven by the data centres. The centres are the primary driver and their impact is really exceptional. MaREI, the research institute, has stated that if data centres currently requesting connection are facilitated, Ireland's legal 2030 target of reducing economy-wide emissions by 51% would become effectively impossible to meet. Which is it: data centres or providing people with energy to heat their homes? Are we going to focus on data centres or reaching our climate targets?

Professor FitzGerald of the ESRI states the cost of interruptions to electricity supply in a modern society are huge – we all know that – but also states that if there is a significant interruption, the blackouts, if they occur, will have a much greater impact on households than on businesses. I put it to the Taoiseach that, in a context in which households are facing ever-increasing energy bills and carbon taxes, the continued granting of planning permission to energy-intensive data centres is being perceived as an unfair distribution of the costs and benefits. Not only is the Taoiseach failing on his climate targets and on giving people energy but he is also failing on just transition, which is supposed to be the key and cornerstone of everything his partners in government stand for. Which is it: data centres or heat, or data centres or climate targets?

It is not that crude a juxtaposition.

It is never that crude.

It is not that simple. That is an overly simplistic presentation. The CRU and EirGrid have statutory responsibility to ensure a balance between demand and supply. That is what this Oireachtas established. It provided the infrastructure. That said, the Government has met representatives of both organisations and it will be taking decisions in respect of immediate issues. Again, both bodies have advised there is a short- to medium-term risk to the security of electricity supply, and they have identified the main challenges, one being the lower-than-expected availability of some existing power stations. Two went down. Other challenges include anticipated new power stations not being developed as planned and expected growth in demand for electricity, including due to the growth of data centres. We are not ignoring the issue of data centres because, as I stated earlier, the CRU is currently undertaking a review and developing a new data centre connection policy to ensure the centres' operation is aligned with supply. There has not been any movement on data centres pending the outcome and conclusion of that review. The idea of simply saying data centres should be banned is not a measured response, nor is it tenable into the future.

The expected closure of power stations that make up approximately 25% of conventional electricity generation capacity is another factor. Hence, there will be a need to extend those by a year, if that is required, in the medium term. Short-term risks are reducing significantly because of the upcoming return to operation of the two key gas-fired stations. They are due back now. Their being down reduces supply. Any risks in this regard will not necessarily affect the supply of electricity to customers, particularly households.

On the energy cost side, the measures we take in the budget will have to address issues associated with the capacity of people, particularly low-income families, to meet fuel costs to try to protect them from the separate issue of the increase in energy costs across Europe, including here, because of the rebound of the economy after Covid-19, issues concerning supply from Russia and so on. There are many global issues affecting the oil supply and the cost of energy that we will obviously have to take into consideration in the budget to protect people in this regard.

The Government has met representatives of the CRU and EirGrid and has taken advice. I have not heard anyone on the Government benches deny the warnings from the CRU, EirGrid and MaREI or call them wrong, but there have been meetings with these bodies. Has the Taoiseach, as a leader, met representatives of Cloud Infrastructure Ireland, including former Labour Deputy Michael McCarthy, who heads up the lobbying group on behalf of the global corporations, towards which the Government's attitude is so servile that it says Ireland has a reputation for serving the interests of foreign direct investment companies?

The Government, however, does not have a great reputation of serving the interests of its own citizens. This country should not be used as the basis for the ever-expanding need of global citizens for data. We have to be measured in how we look after our own citizens. I see here a craven bending over of this and previous governments to the global corporations. At their behest the Government is willing to have heat cut off in homes this winter, to miss our climate emissions targets in 2030 and to destroy the reputation of this country in other ways in that it is not able to provide the energy needed to bring in other investment.

Are we listening to Jeff Bezos and Zuckerberg or are we listening to Joe and Josephine Soap who need the heat and need the price of electricity to be kept down?

First, we are intent and determined to meet our climate change targets by 2030. I brought in legislation which has been groundbreaking in that respect.

What did Michael McCarthy tell the Taoiseach?

This Government has done that, has passed its Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill and will be developing a climate action plan. We are very determined to meet those particular targets. We do not believe in cutting anyone’s heat off. The Deputy is deliberately creating this sort of divide and divisive approach to these issues.

I rest my case-----

I have not met Cloud Infrastructure Ireland, or whatever it is called-----

Has he met Michael McCarthy?

-----or Michael McCarthy in respect of this. I have not met him at all in respect of this.

Has this Government met him or been lobbied by him?

The Deputy asked a specific question.

I ask Deputy Smith to allow the Taoiseach to answer, please.

I want to make another point. The Deputy spoke about foreign direct investment and how we have a great record with it. She made a sort of throwaway remark as if it does not matter. I am not interested in any multinational company for the sake of the company itself but I am interested in the thousands of people that such companies employ in this country.

They are not employed in data centres.

Those are the people I am interested in. The problem with Deputy Smith at times is that she just dismisses that as if it is something that should never have happened in this country.

Data centres employ dozens and not thousands.

I know that you have an ideological view as to how economies and societies should be modelled.

You do not.

He certainly does not.

I do not accord with that or agree with you.

Time is up, please.

The fact that there are thousands of people working in factories all over this country matters. There is an issue as to the growth of data itself and the power demands that arise from that-----

The time is up, Taoiseach.

-----but we are not going to change that by simply banning data centres forever. If every country adopted that approach we would not have the digital transformation that is happening------

We have 70 of them.

-----whether the Deputy likes it or not.

The time is up.

There are two fundamental drivers at the moment. We need to move to a green-based economy and there will be digital transformation with increased demands for the production and utilisation of data. That is a reality of the modern world. The challenge is to grow and develop an energy infrastructure that can deal with and meet that.