Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 5 October 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action

Energy Charter Treaty, Energy Security, Liquefied Natural Gas and Data Centres: Discussion (resumed)

Mr. Jim Gannon:

I do not want to cover previously covered ground. Ms MacEvilly has noted the range of causes, as did Mr. Foley, one of which is that continued increase of data centre demand growth. It is something that would have been noted in previous generation capacity statements and it is an area where a connections policy was in place two years ago. As it has continued to grow, we are now looking at further options and a range of those options are available to us. In our proposed decision, we have not proposed to put in place a moratorium but all options remain open to us as things progress, and it is important to note that. We will take action where it is needed.