Ms Marie Donnelly:

We had a long conversation in the council about this and the considerations. We have discussed it here as well. As the Deputy said, our primary function is the achievement of a climate neutral economy. As part of that, we required to take into account a number of elements in our considerations. Competitiveness, impact on employment and macroeconomic considerations are one of the elements the legislation requires us to take into account. In our considerations, we look at the implications of the data centres for Ireland's competitiveness and employment. In response to an earlier question, the position we take is that growth in demand as projected by EirGrid, at least on paper, is 34% between now and 2030. That would be matched by the availability of electricity from renewable sources if we were to deliver on what is in the climate action plan. That means the 9 GW of onshore wind, the 8 GW of solar and the 5 GW of offshore wind would actually deliver the amount of electricity required to match that demand up to 2030. Taking these two together, they match. The question then is whether it is working. The issue we have highlighted is that it is not working. The concern we have is that the roll-out of the 9 GW of wind and 8 GW of solar is not happening. That is a limiting factor for Ireland, not justvis-à-vis data centres but potentially for us as citizens and our economy and society.