Mr. Mark Foley:

I think I will be picking up most of these questions. First, I will go back to the North-South interconnector questions from Deputy O'Rourke. On access to lands, there is ongoing engagement with local landowners. That will continue in respect of access to lands in terms of ourselves working with the ESB.

We have procured the designers of the towers. This has happened and contracts have been awarded to carry out design work. Procurement notices for the full construction contracts will issue shortly, certainly within the next week or so, in anticipation of a positive outcome from the court hearings.

We acknowledge there is a difference of opinion. I have been with Cavan County Council and Monaghan County Council in the last two weeks, and I have offered to meet with the North East Pylon Pressure Campaign protest group. That invitation is out as we speak. I am very hopeful there can be a discussion between my team and the protest group and that we can try to have a sensible discussion about what the facts are around underground versus overground. I am looking forward to that engagement because the dialogue will help.

Deputy O'Rourke asked about EirGrid's role in the review. EirGrid is another stakeholder. We were not part of the terms of reference. We have been advised that the process has been kicked off. We expect a question and answer session to take place, or a submission to be made to the Department, on the basis of some documentation that will be forwarded to us. We will participate in an open and transparent manner, along with other stakeholders, in that review.

Reference was made to the timeline for the North-South interconnector and that the dates have slipped due to the court hearing. We are fortunate in the sense that the growth in electricity demand in Northern Ireland has been very flat over the past years post-recession and continues to be so. To some extent, this has helped us by not making the situation so acute that the lights would go out in Northern Ireland. We are happy that the current programme, which sees completion around 2024, will be adequate in supporting the security of supply needs in Northern Ireland. I believe I have answered the questions there.

Senator Boylan asked a very important question about data centres and I would appreciate if she would indulge me in trying to get my arms around all of the dimensions she raised. Should I have said the Member of the European Parliament?

The data centres are a big part of the Irish economy today. That is a fact. The most recent report from IDA Ireland, as I understand it, on the economic benefits of data centres suggest the overall economic benefit is approximately €7 billion to the Irish economy. This is not inconsiderable and is something we should be conscious of.

Let us acknowledge the fact that we are living and experiencing the most spectacular social experiment in human history where millions of us are working from home. Thanks to the information and communications technology sector, I currently have 600 staff working seamlessly from home today. I have been working from home for nearly 15 months. Data is the currency of the 21st century so it is absolutely critical to business. The reality is that data permeates every aspect of our lives, including the social and the non-working element of our lives. It is ubiquitous and part of everything that happens from the time we get up in the morning to the time we go to bed.

In Ireland we must ask ourselves a number of key questions. I will pose those questions and maybe give the committee some of the thinking that EirGrid is sponsoring at the moment. What road do we see for data centres in the Irish economy over the next decade and beyond? It appears that they will continue to play a central role because they are so important to the economy and to society. What level of growth can be reasonably accommodated? We have to ask this question. Where can this growth be accommodated?

One will see from the four options we have presented that EirGrid brought up the possibility of high-demand centres being located not in the Dublin area but in the regions, to be less impacting. How should it be accommodated and what should the rule-set be? Should there be a pecking order for firm capacity, for example? Should we reward those who deliver on their promises? Should those who have a track record get preference? What price or risk should be borne by the developers? Is it time to start asking developers of data centres to bring some part of the solution such as on-site low-carbon generation? We pose those questions with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities and with the Department with a view to a new framework that would inform the growth and development of data centres into the future.

I hope that has answered the question from MEP, Ms Lynn Boylan.