Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is certainly news to everybody on the climate committee because we have been repeatedly told that there is a moratorium on connections to the electricity grid by data centres. EirGrid only a week ago told the committee that its view was that it was detrimental to the Irish economy because it was not in a position to connect any data centres to the grid due to the moratorium it was instructed to comply with and that it wanted to see some sort sustainable policy direction. I do not agree with it. There is a point at which we have to say we cannot keep accommodating data centres. We have been informed repeatedly that there is a moratorium on data centres connecting to the electricity grid. It is on the basis of that moratorium, when it was announced, that data centres then applied to Gas Networks Ireland for their gas connections. They did not do that just out of the blue going, do you know what, rather than an electricity grid connection, we are going to go for a gas connection. The reason they are going for gas connections is they cannot get connected to the electricity grid because there is a moratorium on electricity grid connections.