Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry the Deputy thinks that the Government is putting it on the never-never. To be clear, the Tánaiste responded to the Deputy in the autumn and told her that the report would be published and an updated statement provided by quarter 1 of 2022. It has slipped into quarter 2. We accept that there has been a delay with it. However, in our view, that means that the work is being done right. An updated statement will be published in quarter 2. The reason that it is being updated is because the previous statement was published in 2018, predating the Climate Action Plan 2021. That is why we are updating it. We are updating it to recognise all the issues that the Deputy has highlighted and to ensure that we are aligning enterprise policy with our climate targets.

Also, when it comes to the discussion of data centres, we need to have a detailed conversation on their role in society and the benefits they bring. The role of data centres in the economy should be assessed in the context of the total economic value they provide, and not just as an isolated economic activity. The important economic and societal role of data centres in the provision of video calls, streaming services and other remote working technology has become ever more apparent since Covid-19. Data centres securely store and manage the data in a very effective way and in most cases, in a very energy-efficient way. They keep most of our information-based economy and society moving. These investments underpin the digital economy in which data are the key asset. To be clear, data centres are an increasingly important part of the digital and communication sectors and our core infrastructure in the remote working and digital service economy. The transition to a digital economy is well under way. It is impacting all sectors of the economy. Ireland is well positioned as a digital gateway to Europe. Data centres and the service they provide act as a hook for further investment and job creation. To be clear, each data centre generally directly employs between 30 and 50 highly-qualified workers. Also, the overall impact that they have is the provision of 20,000 direct jobs in the economy supporting the companies that are here and involved in the infrastructure.

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