Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Heather Humphreys, in her first engagement with this committee. We have met with IDA Ireland on many occasions.

There are many lessons to be learned from what has arisen over the proposed data centre in Athenry. There is a business park of 130 acres in my own constituency, in Askeaton, county Limerick. I understand it would be a prime location for a data centre, given the move towards 5G and automated driving. We will need very large acreage data centres located in stable climates. All the major IT infrastructure providers which would be involved in the networks, servers and so on, have their headquarters here. In terms of the future and sustainability, this is a market we can pursue. I am putting a word in for Askeaton because it has been empty since I was a child, when it was first established. There have been proposals through the years for smaller, more indigenous businesses going in there, however I believe that since it was established as a site for foreign direct investment, there was a view that this should not be interfered with. We have seen booms and busts since then, but that site remains empty. If IDA Ireland seeks suggestions for attracting business to Ireland, this is a prime example of a site that would be suitable for a data centre, and we could have a major data centre for County Limerick. We should put our heads together and formulate a process whereby we would not repeat past mistakes. There could be a roadmap or marketing approach by which we could secure another investor to come to Askeaton. It is a question of how to market these things. If that site in Askeaton was tailored towards a certain sector and targeted at that, it could help. People in County Limerick have been asking for years why there is no business in there. I believe it was established during the 1980s. I hope this idea might be taken on board.