Last week, EirGrid forecast yet again that data centres are on track to use almost 30% of our electricity by 2031. It is a completely unsustainable approach which makes reaching our climate targets even harder. Now, to add insult to injury, the Minister for Finance has confirmed to me that data centres will be eligible to receive €10,000 a month each from the public purse because of the temporary business energy support, TBES, scheme. Does the Minister not agree it is utterly obscene that those who are suffering from energy poverty will be paying to subsidise the electricity usage of some of the biggest corporations on the planet? Does he agree that the scheme must be amended immediately in order to exclude data centres from it?

The scheme the Minister for Finance announced on budget day, which is still being developed, is a broad-based scheme to support businesses with the very high energy costs they are going to be facing over the period ahead. It is based on the relative increase in the per unit price of energy for a particular business. Many of those companies the Deputy has identified, because of their scale and their ability to enter into longer-term futures contracts and so on, may not qualify. However, it is a broad-based scheme. I will relay to the Minister for Finance the concerns the Deputy has expressed.