Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I will pass those questions on to the Minister. On the issue of data centres, they present a real dilemma. There has never been more data in the world. There is going to be more and more data in the world over the coming years and decades and they have to be stored somewhere. It is of real strategic advantage for Ireland to be a place where data are stored. They are a really valuable commodity, like gold or diamonds. Why would one not want them to be stored in one's country? It is not just about the jobs in construction, the supply chain or maintenance. The real value in large companies and big employers keeping their data in Ireland is that they are much more likely to bring other operations here and to keep them here. It is the company's safe and one never moves too far away from one's safe. That is why there is an advantage to us in having these data centres in Ireland.

The problem is that data centres' demand for energy is extraordinary. I have seen figures suggesting that as much as one third of all the electricity we produce will be needed for data centres. This comes at a time when we are having some trouble with the grid and have a couple of power stations down. This will present a difficulty over the next few years. In the medium term, opportunities will arise from renewable energy, including offshore wind which will produce gigawatts of electricity. Being the country where one can build a data centre powered by green energy could be a real plus. Customers and consumers are becoming more environmentally aware all of the time. They may want that from companies. It is a real dilemma in the short term given the shortage of electricity but will also present a real opportunity in the medium term.

With regard to campaigns, we launched the Made Local campaign the other day. The Deputy will probably have heard the advertisements on the radio. Rachael Blackmore is our ambassador for the campaign, which encourages people to buy things made by Irish makers, designers and craftspeople. Separate from that, there will be a campaign about buying locally which will encourage people to consider shopping locally and buying products that are made locally, whether in Ireland or in their own region or county. We will launch that campaign in the near future and fund it well. We are very happy to work with Guaranteed Irish as partners in that campaign. However, what we discussed before with regard to the rules governing the Single Market must be borne in mind. These do not allow national governments to promote national brands as such.