Ms Rosemary Steen:

IDA Ireland supports the strategic location of data centres in Ireland to build global relationships it already has with some of these companies. For example, Microsoft and Apple have a very active presence in Ireland and their location of strategic data centres is very much a vote of confidence in the electricity system which supports them as they seek to build a greater presence in Ireland. We support the work of IDA Ireland with these companies. We try to direct them to places on the grid where we have existing capacity, which means we can manage the load within the demand constraints within which we have to operate. How IDA Ireland wants to take this forward is an important part of the industrial development conversation and we will engage with IDA Ireland on it over the next year or two. IDA Ireland is in discussions with a number of these players about how they go forward in Ireland. Many of them are very committed to using renewable energies and if they can do that, it helps to balance and support the system requirements. We introduce them to suppliers to ensure they have a full understanding of the way the Irish electricity market operates. They play an important role in the grid and we are delighted to accommodate them. We are competing with Denmark, the UK and other places for these data centres and we are winning the investments at this stage.