Dr. Patrick Bresnihan:

There were a few points and I do not know if I will get to all of them. The first concerned an analogy with single-use plastics. As mentioned, plastic is made from fossil fuels but data are currently made from fossil fuels, for the most part, in that the energy used in those centres comes from fossil fuels. Data could be made from energy generated from sources other than fossil fuels, although one could say the same about plastic. There is much effort to make plastic from biodegradable materials but for the most part it is still a byproduct of the petrochemical industry. The analogy is fine but it is harder to conceive because data does not seem material but instead is like information on the screen. If we understood the concept as fundamentally as we do fossil fuels, and where it is produced from fossil fuels, perhaps it would bring a shift in how people think about data and its environmental costs.

There was a second point about regional development in data centres. This is where most of my work has been in the past year or two. That is certainly one of the proposals put forward by EirGrid and CRU because of the concentration of data centres in Dublin, which is causing a security of supply issue. If the data centres were moved to other parts of the country, where they could be closer to generation and there would not be the same demand on the grid, it would work from an energy or electricity perspective in terms of security of supply. As has been mentioned, it might also help spread the development. There is no doubt there may be benefits, although it all depends on how these things are done.

This goes back to the point about the benefits of data centres and the kinds of jobs or localised development they provide beyond construction. As an example, I have done some work in Killala, where efforts are under way by Mayo County Council to bring a data centre to the site where Asahi used to be. Asahi was a Japanese company that came to Ireland in the 1970s and at the time that was one of the largest investments by a Japanese company overseas. It was in Killala in north Mayo for maybe 30 years and left in the 1990s, after 25 years. It provided many jobs and transformed that area. That site has basically been empty of industry since the mid-1990s. Data centres are seen as a kind of possible replacement but even in talking to people involved with those plans, they recognise there will not really be many jobs beyond construction. These matters are complicated but there is a sense that because data centres are large industrial installations and infrastructure, there is not much else possible. We will not get a company like Asahi to locate in Killala again. There is a sense that we are grasping at this but will this really bring the kinds of employment opportunities and long-term employment in these places that has been promised? I am not sure.

It could happen if those centres were associated with some energy projects, such as biomass or biogas. There are many ways they could be developed, as per Deputy Christy O'Sullivan's point. Again, it comes down to trying to plan such measures and ensuring there are requirements or elements added to the data centre development to ensure they are good for these areas. It is not a given that they would be. The Bord na Móna project can also be seen in the post-industrial context. It is by no means sure that it will create the jobs that Bord na Móna once had.