Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The way IDA Ireland would describe it is that in Ireland we try to build an ecosystem for investment. We have done very well in terms of life sciences and tech and data centres are part of that, particularly when it comes to tech investment. That is the argument IDA Ireland would make as to why we should continue to host them in Ireland. If we want to encourage tech investment in Ireland and companies and start-ups to invest here, we cannot say that one aspect of tech, which is data, is something we do not want in our country. We have to be able to provide the electricity, however.

The Deputy pointed out that 10% or 11% of electricity is now used by data centres, which is quite a lot. One would think it was more than 10% or 11% based on some of the reports and comments but it has been increasing considerably in recent years. Because of the grid constraints now, I believe we will see a slowdown in the number of data centres being connected, particularly around Dublin.

The Deputy asked how it squares with our climate objectives. It can only square with our climate objectives if we make sure the electricity we use is green. Data centres will have to be somewhere in the world. We all use data. We are using it now because we are holding this meeting remotely. When this meeting is over, we will all be on our phones using data. Data has to be stored somewhere and if it is going to be stored anywhere in the world, it should be stored somewhere it can be powered by renewable electricity. How we square that with our objectives as a Department is to dramatically increase the volume of renewable electricity we produce and renewable energy we use so that green power is powering those centres and everything else.