46. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment the rationale for not including a cost-benefit analysis of redirecting investment and infrastructure support for data centres to public services like transport or housing in a report commissioned by his Department (details supplied). [66925/26]

The purpose of the study commissioned by my Department was to address a knowledge gap in relation to the economic benefits of data centres to Ireland. Prior to this work, there had been limited evidence available on the scale of the sector's contribution to employment, GVA, tax revenues and wider economic activity in Ireland.

Accordingly, the Terms of Reference for the study set out the following aims:

• to determine the economic impacts and wider societal benefits arising from existing and planned (to 2030) data centres in Ireland; and

• to explore options for evolving the data centre landscape beyond 2030 with a view to optimising future economic and societal benefits.

The report addressed opportunity costs and trade-offs through its consideration of future development scenarios, infrastructure requirements, energy demand, grid constraints and related policy considerations. It also considered the potential implications of constraining future data-centre development, including impacts on economic activity, competitiveness and foreign direct investment.

Sectoral economic studies of this nature are typically commissioned to address specific evidence gaps. They are not generally designed to determine, through a single analysis, whether one form of infrastructure investment or economic activity should be prioritised over another.

Any decision on investment and infrastructure allocation by Government would  require consideration of a wide range of economic, social, environmental and fiscal factors and would be informed by evidence generated across a number of Government Departments, agencies and regulatory bodies.

The findings of this study therefore form one part of the wider evidence base informing ongoing policy discussions regarding the future development of data centres in Ireland.