Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I tabled a series a of questions and generally the Tánaiste has answered me. There was hope, a deadline and a recognition that we need a strategy. That seems to be gone with this reply. It seems to be gone to never-never land. I do not have time here to go through the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that was mentioned yesterday in the Dáil. It is the final turning point. We are talking about a Government policy statement that did not consider climate and the effect of data centres on the environment whatsoever. We got a thumbs up from Grant Thornton in the analysis, which I have read in detail, which did not look at the cost to the climate and the environment as a result of the proliferation of data centres. There were more than 70 of them at the last count. According to the EirGrid consultation paper of March 2021, the current developer-led approach, where energy assets and large energy users can locate wherever they want, would not allow Ireland to reach its 2030 renewable targets.

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