Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I have a couple of questions that are primarily for the CRU. In her opening statement, Ms MacEvilly stated the commission has been asked to accelerate deployment of renewable energy and relevant measures under the climate action plan. I presume that request was made by the Minister or the Department. Where exactly could that deployment be accelerated? I assumed that, in light of the climate crisis we are in, we were doing as much as we could do. I am surprised to hear that there is a buffer. I ask our guests from the CRU to list the specific areas that could be accelerated.

There has been discussion on the period required to transition, ensuring that the lights stay on and that there is a sort of necessary evil of having back-up generation, with gas potentially being part of that jigsaw. I find it quite frustrating is that there is no discussion or acknowledgement of the need to reduce the demand for electricity, particularly in the context of an industry such as data centres that will go from 11% electricity demand to 30% by 2028. It really seems that a blind eye has been turned to that problem and the potential impact data centres will have on our ability to meet that demand. As a result of that, the data centres themselves have locked in the need to have gas as a transition. The Friends of the Earth submission refers to that issue and the fact that rather than implementing a moratorium on data centres or even seeking to examine the potential for renewable storage, demand reduction and-or flexibility, the CRU focused on ensuring data centres had on-site gas generation.

Considering the targets we have to meet, was that a prudent approach? It is obviously not in line with Government policy when it comes to meeting our targets. Will the witnesses comment on that?