Mr. Mark Foley:

Regarding Deputy Bruton's question about data centres, one of the reasons I can speak with such confidence about the winter outlook is that we have had extensive engagement with the data centre community. To give credit where it is due, the data centres have worked in collaboration with us so that if an emergency is declared, they will switch on their generators and be the first port of call this winter in the very unlikely event of the system being very tight. They have stepped up to the plate and worked with my team. We can call on them this winter so the general public can sleep at night.

The Deputy mentioned smart meters. I signed a new contract in June, have three tariffs and charge my modest electric Golf at night using an app for about 30% below the normal daily rate. The revolution is happening in the distribution system and all consumers will benefit.

The Deputy mentioned the 10,000 MW of renewables, the provenance of which is the Deputy's climate action plan from 2019 when he was Minister. My confidence arises from two things. On the grid side, we have made three decisions in the past 12 months that we arguably might not have made five years ago. We declared that two major pieces of grid infrastructure are going underground. The first is in the Dublin-Kildare region where we have made the call and said a critical piece of west Dublin infrastructure is going to be underground.

We have said the line to Mayo will be underground and the converter station for the Celtic Interconnector, one of Ireland's most critical projects which will link us to France, will be located not beside the substation in Knockraha, but in an industrial site in Ballyadam. This is because that is what communities asked us to do. I am much more confident on the infrastructure side. I am watching the offshore side with great interest. One of the projects is close to my home. Three projects are out to public consultation in the Irish Sea at the moment. Fingers crossed, they have been executed in an exemplary manner by the developers. At this point, we have not seen significant outrage about the proposal to put 5 GW between Dundalk and Arklow. So far, therefore, we seem to see that through the efforts of the engagement of developers, including ourselves, there was a more positive and less outraged response from the public.

The Deputy's last point was about hydrogen storage. Ms MacEvilly has spoken about hydrogen. Batteries are on the system as we speak. They are a vital part of system stability. Today, we are capable of running the system at 75% renewables. We would not be able to do that without batteries. There are more batteries in the pipeline to provide at least 500 MW, but more will come through in the next auction. They are a critical part of the overall holistic solution. I hope that I have answered the Deputy's questions.