Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Government has met representatives of the CRU and EirGrid and has taken advice. I have not heard anyone on the Government benches deny the warnings from the CRU, EirGrid and MaREI or call them wrong, but there have been meetings with these bodies. Has the Taoiseach, as a leader, met representatives of Cloud Infrastructure Ireland, including former Labour Deputy Michael McCarthy, who heads up the lobbying group on behalf of the global corporations, towards which the Government's attitude is so servile that it says Ireland has a reputation for serving the interests of foreign direct investment companies?

The Government, however, does not have a great reputation of serving the interests of its own citizens. This country should not be used as the basis for the ever-expanding need of global citizens for data. We have to be measured in how we look after our own citizens. I see here a craven bending over of this and previous governments to the global corporations. At their behest the Government is willing to have heat cut off in homes this winter, to miss our climate emissions targets in 2030 and to destroy the reputation of this country in other ways in that it is not able to provide the energy needed to bring in other investment.

Are we listening to Jeff Bezos and Zuckerberg or are we listening to Joe and Josephine Soap who need the heat and need the price of electricity to be kept down?

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