Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Perfect. Does Mr. Tarrant think there is going to be any difficulty and would he like to see a prioritisation? My understanding is that the ability to prioritise energy for social purposes above and beyond data centres was raised. Is it correct that ESB Networks requested the CRU look into that? Did ESB Networks raise the issues? This may not be Mr. Tarrant's unit directly. The CRU report states that "ESB Networks has highlighted risks that, in the absence of an adequate policy response, the potential level of data centre demand could significantly impact its ability to accommodate demand connections required to support Government policy targets." It goes on to state that "where network infrastructure upgrades have been identified to deliver future needs ... [the] capacity [should] be reserved to ensure the successful delivery of national priorities, such as housing, infrastructure and enterprise, in a balanced manner." That is something I suppose ESB Networks is worried about, that it does not have the ability to prioritise whether a housing development or housing gets connection versus a data centre. The response from the CRU at that point was "that it does not have sufficient statutory powers to prioritise certain Government policy objectives over others". Is that something Mr. Tarrant would like the CRU to have so that if it does get to the point where ESB Networks is having to make decisions between data centres and housing, it can actually prioritise where energy goes?