Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Regarding the failure of a supplier to deliver 500 MW that were contracted for, what happened there? Are there penalties to be applied or lessons to learned? I am delighted to hear that instead of blunt measures, there is consultation with data centres because some of the companies here are among the most innovative in the world. Ireland has certain advantages in terms of managing data centres for climate reasons. As such, we can harness their capability to help us through this period to a point where, in the long term, we can use our renewable capacity to significant advantage.

If 500,000 smart meters are deployed, why is there not much more effort to drive the electrification of vehicles and the smart use of timing personal consumption? That figure, from 1.75 million homes, is very significant. We are heading towards 25% or more of the capacity, which could encourage a change in behaviour. I recognise fully the need for the 10,000 MW of renewables, 2,000 MW of gas and 1,200 MW interconnector but regarding Mr. Foley's optimism about the speed of rolling this out, there has been significant opposition to these sorts of initiatives. Mr. Foley seems to believe EirGrid has cracked that. Could he tell us about that?

Where do storage and hydrogen stand in EirGrid's perspective on the next decade and beyond? Are we in a position to factor them in? Should we be making moves to nail down opportunities in those areas?