Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State very much. He and his delegates are very welcome. As he identified, there are very important opportunities for this country and it is appropriate that our transport network and systems are in a position to serve those opportunities. The ones which follow on from what my colleague, Senator Doherty, talked about are the opportunities not just around aviation but the capture of offshore wind, which the Minister of State identified.

There is a necessity to heavily invest in key infrastructure, whether in our ports, our rail system or in the wider road network. In that context, I suggest that the Minister of State look at the road from Ennis to Kilrush. I recognise the development which will ultimately take place there, and I accept much of the traffic will be by sea, but many more people will be working there. That section of road needs a significant upgrade to meet the increased demand. We see the potential to harness other activities when the electricity is brought ashore, and Deputy Crowe, myself and others have been working on this for quite some time. This would be specifically in the areas identified by the Minister of State, such as hydrogen, ammonia and other potential offshoots from the vast amounts of electricity that can be captured in the Atlantic Ocean.

There is also potential, as identified by Senator Doherty, with sustainable aviation fuel. We believe Shannon, in particular, has that potential because of its access to the estuary and the research work going on in the Technological University of the Shannon, TUS, and the University of Limerick, UL, and I am sure my colleague believes the same of Dublin. I know Trinity College Dublin is also engaged in this. We are a small island and we should identify a location and the Shannon Estuary, in particular, could play a significant role in that. There are opportunities there.

There is a great deal of talk about data centres at the moment and that we should be telling them to leave or that they should not be expanding. As I have said, and as I am sure the Minister of State and many others have said, but it is worth repeating, the reality is there are some in the Oireachtas who suggest data centres are unnecessary or that they are nice to have. The assumption is that they are just storing TikTok videos, etc. Nothing could be further from the truth. A volume of what was stored in office space is now stored in these data centres. I see them as the filing cabinets we had 30 years ago, or the rack systems which were in every building. That is the engine of our economy and we cannot be lackadaisical about protecting that into the future. We must protect our data and have it in Ireland.

In the area around the Shannon Estuary, in particular around Moneypoint and Kilrush, there are significant opportunities for the data centre business, where one does not need new wires or networks to facilitate that.

That is a roundabout way of saying to the Minister of State that there is very significant potential along the Shannon Estuary, particularly on the Clare side. We need the Minister of State’s Department to look at the roads. I know work on the ports is under way and that work is being done in Foynes. We also need work done on the rail network because if more people will be living and working in the region, we will need to put the systems in place. While I accept the road network is necessary and we need to improve it, we should be looking at the rail network connection to Shannon Airport. That is something which has real potential. I know Deputy Crowe has spoken about opening up new stations around Limerick, as I have. That is under way but we need to connect to Shannon Airport. That is my plug for Clare.