Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It would be appropriate and reasonable to have a debate on that. I am sure that can be taken up by the Business Committee.

As I said earlier, based on the presentations that I have seen from EirGrid, the regulator and the Department, I am confident that the plan that is being put in place will enable us to avoid blackouts or brownouts this winter but nobody can absolutely guarantee that because we need those two power stations that are out of action, in Huntstown and in Cork, to be back in action in October and November to avoid it.

The issue of price is a different matter. The issue of price is driven by a very significant increase in gas prices across Europe which unfortunately is not something that we can control.

Data centres make up approximately 11% of our electricity demand here in Ireland. One large power station is enough to power all of them. Of course, the increase in the number of data centres planned over the coming years is an issue. We need to make sure that data centres are part of the solution, as well as part of the problem, which they are.

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