Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I am glad the Deputy has asked that question. Data centres are, in my view, an essential part of any modern economy. We are a part of the European Union, which is going to build a new digital Single Market for digital services, which is a big part of decarbonisation. If you do not have to move around as much to do business, if you do not have to travel and can build more efficient businesses on the back of digital services and better use of data, it is a good thing. The truth is that data are processed and managed in data centres and if those data are managed in much older systems around the country, it will have a much bigger impact from an emissions perspective.

There is a lot of talk about data centres in Ireland. We have a new policy statement on data centres now. Anybody who thinks we can develop a modern tech-based economy, particularly around digital services and products, without including data centres is not being realistic. The real challenge is how we power those data centres. All of the companies I have spoken to that want to build new data centres in Ireland want them to be powered by renewable power only. That is where we need to go in terms of facilitating that kind of ambition.