Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would like to go into a little more detail on what Deputy Stanton discussed, specifically the conflict between our ambitions in digital and our ambitions on climate. At EU level, a distinction is drawn between the emissions trading system and where national targets must be met. However, our climate Act has merged those two elements so we do not draw a distinction. The data centres are in the emissions trading system. The principle of that system is that certain EU infrastructure should be located in the country where it is most efficient and that will not be added to its national burden. Is the key constraint here that we have set the wrong target and constrained our ability to evolve the long-term need of having data centres, which are good for digital and offshore energy resources that we intend to develop? In the short-term, we risk constraining those, simply because we set the wrong target. Is the root cause that we do not have the flexibility now that we ought to have to plan for the long term?