Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The concern, which we will get to when we give the example of the shareholder letter of expectation of Coillte from 2022, is if the Minister for Finance is the majority-shareholding Minister, he or she could try to generate the maximum number of shares for the public, as opposed to balancing that with the climate Act.That gives us cause for concern because of the way in which GNI is working at the moment in respect of islanded data centres, as I have said. GNI seems to disagree that there is a risk and is seeking to plough ahead with attaching more and more data centres to the gas grid. There is a risk that, if it does not do that, these centres may become stranded assets or a Minister may tell these companies they cannot expand. Gas Networks Ireland believes data centres can address these issues through "the increased use of biomethane and hydrogen and are currently assessing the statement impacts and consulting with Government". If Gas Networks Ireland is instructed by a Minister for Finance to maximise profit or to operate only out of economic motives, it would be in a very strong position to argue that these data centres need to been connected to the grid and to expand the gas network to more and more households. On the flipside, our Minister for the environment, our climate Act and our sectoral targets are all telling GNI that it needs to go in a different direction, to completely move away from expanding the gas network and to examine alternatives for its future business plans that do not involve fossil fuels. That is our rationale. The role of the Minister for Finance seems to lean towards where GNI sees itself at the moment.