Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Naughten for raising those very important matters. I will answer each question he has put to me in turn.

The Government will of course participate in any collective procedures or arrangements that are possible within the EU to examine how we can establish more clearly the certainty of supply and manage the affordability challenge that I know so many in the House are concerned about. As Members know, the Taoiseach is travelling to the European Council meeting. One of the key issues will be how we can accelerate our progress towards energy independence, with targets set for both 2023 and 2030. It will be a matter of determining whether there are new policies that the European Commission and EU can put in place that would allow us to respond collectively to the issues the Deputy is raising. I am sure the Government will view any such proposals from the Commission favourably.

I take issue with the Deputy’s reference to speculative data centres. As he knows, many of the data centres located in Ireland, if not all of them, are associated with companies that are very large employers. The presence of a data centre in Ireland should not be seen in isolation; it should be seen in the context of companies that are employing hundreds, if not thousands, of people all over our country. Particularly with the changing world we are in and the kinds of changes that will happen with regard to corporate tax, an environment in which data centres can be associated with the ability to employ large numbers is a real asset for Ireland.

On the Deputy’s point on the sharing of the report, I am afraid I am not aware of the status of the report and why it may not have been made available at the point the Deputy indicated. However, I will certainly follow up with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, on it. As the Deputy knows, the Minister and his Department are working on a new strategy on energy security and independence, the need for which has been emphasised by the dramatic and deadly developments of recent weeks.

On the Deputy’s point on carbon tax, I am well aware of the model he has proposed. In fairness to him, he has raised this on many occasions, in the Dáil and elsewhere. The one difficulty with the model he makes a case for is that it gives no clarity at all to the Government regarding what our future revenue from carbon taxation could be. As the Deputy knows, carbon tax plays a role in helping us to fund all the changes that he and the Government want to see happen regarding retrofitting and how we can make progress towards energy independence.

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