Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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It is not something on which our Department makes a decision. It is a decision for the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU. The Deputy will have seen the new policy it produced in the past couple of months recognising that because there are constraints on the system, there will be fewer data centre connections over the next couple of years, particularly in the Dublin region where capacity is tight. The way I see it is that we need to produce much more electricity in Ireland, largely from renewable sources. We need it not just for data centres by any means but to power industry, electric cars and our homes. We need to get off fossil fuels over the next couple of years and decades and move towards renewable electricity, green hydrogen and other fuels. We are constrained, however. We do not produce enough electricity in Ireland to suits the needs and demands. We have to prioritise at the moment. Data centres would be of a lower priority than homes, hospitals, schools or industry itself. That is why they are not being connected.