Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

If it is not ideological, what explains the fact the Government is in Europe at present trying to water down every renewable directive and governance measure? This is why we are at the bottom of the charts. To put this aside, I am glad the Tánaiste is looking at developing a plan for what we do with data centres. One of the reasons for the planning delay in this case was there was not a national plan. The planning system had to try to decide whether the project made sense without any understanding of the overall plan in terms of how many data centres we have, from where we get the power, the benefits for the local community and where we locate them. I very much welcome, if I heard it in the Tánaiste's answer, that she will now have such a plan. When does she expect it will be ready? What other bodies are involved? I have just come from an ESB conference down the road, and it sees the development of a renewable sensitive dynamic network as key. What is the role of the industry in this? How quickly can the Tánaiste turn around such a plan so at least companies coming in future know what is happening in this country?

See this speech in context