Mr. Jim Gannon:

I will answer what I can. Some of it is a bit outside our remit. At the end of November, we came out with our direction to the system operators which put in place the set of assessment criteria they should use to ensure the security of supply would be protected as they assess data-centre connection offers. We reserved the right, at that time, to bring in a moratorium, should that be required. We asked the system operators, EirGrid in particular, to report to us on the effectiveness of the measure to make sure the security of supply piece is protected.

To be frank, I was not aware that in some jurisdictions, or perhaps many, data centres are provided and invested in as a public utility and that private operators use them. It is a model I was not aware of. The type of data that may be stored there and any prioritisation falls outside our remit. What I will say is that in the climate action plan, published at the end of 2021, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment was tasked with updating the Government policy statement on data centres. I expect that some of those broader issues will likely be brought into that discussion, notwithstanding the fact that we will be involved in that discussion with the Department as it progresses the review of the policy statement.

On the question of prioritisation of quality, the type of data stored, and the approach to public data centres, in Ireland there are some developer and operator-owned data centres that are developed by the entity that ultimately uses them. There are also other intermediaries that develop data centres for use by others.