Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief because Professor McMullin has been very comprehensive today. We have learned a huge amount about energy systems.

I will pick up on that point around the importance of demand reduction. We tabled a parliamentary question to the Department asking for the number of people working on demand reduction. We were told that 76 people are working on demand-side management but there is nobody specifically working on demand reduction. I would like to hear Professor McMullin's views on how important it is that we start focusing on that. We have not met our targets that we agreed in the EU in November 2022 to reduce electricity demand. In fact, Ireland was one of the few that went up by 6%.

The very final point is more to do with gas. While the large energy users such as data centres have come up in the conversation, we know that to date there are 11 islanded data centres connected directly to the gas grid because they cannot get connection to the electricity grid. The Government's response is that the islanded data centres run contrary to our climate objectives and the climate action plan. Gas networks Ireland believes that is not the case, however. It referred to the data centres' connection to the network. It believes it can meet that demand in the future through the use of biomethane and hydrogen. It is interesting that we have a semi-State body saying one thing and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, Government and climate action plan saying another. Is it possible to meet that demand through biomethane and potentially hydrogen down the road if we keep connecting large energy users to the gas grid? Should we be changing the mandate of Gas Networks Ireland?