Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Do any members wish to comment on any of those financial statements? No. The accounts and statements are noted and agreed. As usual, the list of accounts and financial statements submitted will be published as part of our minutes.

The next item on our agenda is correspondence. As previously agreed, items that were not flagged for discussion for this meeting will continue to be dealt with in accordance with the proposed actions that have been circulated, and decisions taken by the committee in relation to correspondence are recorded in the minutes of the committee’s meetings and published on the committee’s web page.Seven items of correspondence have been flagged in the category of correspondence from Accounting Officers and Ministers as a follow-up to previous meetings of this committee. The first is No. 854 B from Ms Orlaigh Quinn, Secretary General of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment ,dated 27 October 2021, regarding data centres and their implications for Ireland's electricity grid. This response arises from an enquiry we made following consideration of a previous item of correspondence from the Tánaiste on this issue. The committee requested clarity as to the specific analysis that has been undertaken in respect of growing energy demand due to data centre investments. The Secretary General states such analysis has been undertaken by bodies responsible for the management and regulation of our electricity market, namely, EirGrid and the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, and provides hyperlinks to those analyses. Also provided is the Government statement on the role of data centres in Ireland’s enterprise strategy. Deputy Catherine Murphy flagged this item.