Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to look at this legislation. I am horrified by Deputy Leddin's comments and the ill-informed content of some of the debate. He talked about the data centre trove. I rarely personalise debate but I certainly find it a little worrying that information could be twisted in such a way by a Green Party Deputy. We have here legislation for which the date for amendments has already passed and the Bill digest was only produced today. We have one go at discussing this. I have done been my best and struggled with this legislation. The Deputy spoke about ill-informed comments. The best way to avoid ill-informed comments is to allow for a considered debate with maximum information, and that has not happened here. It has not happened in the context of this urgent legislation. I fully understand that we need security of energy supply and the Bill is ostensibly about protecting the security of energy supply, as well as providing for a refund of the PSO levy, allowing for Bord na Móna and EirGrid to borrow more money and allowing the Government to give EirGrid money in the context of a direction from the CRU in relation to security supply. On a theoretical level, I fully understand where this legislation is coming from. What I do not understand is why it is being presented in such an urgent manner, with the date for tabling amendments having passed before we even discussed Second Stage.

I have struggled, and while I have some idea, it is not clear to me what we are doing here. For Deputy Leddin to talk about ill-informed comments is totally unacceptable, given the Government has allowed this situation to develop.

Deputy Naughten referred to the Government Statement on the Role of Data Centres in Ireland’s Enterprise Strategy, which was an absolute hymn of adoration to data centres, with no restriction whatsoever, back in June 2018. Less than a year later, we were declaring a climate emergency and a biodiversity emergency. We have still had no review of that policy. The biggest thing the Government wanted to do under that policy was to classify data centres as strategic infrastructure and to change the legislation to allow them to be put through. It was stated, “This statement outlines the role data centres play in Ireland’s ambition to be a digital economy hot-spot in Europe.” We are certainly a hot-spot in more ways than one. It went on “The Government is amending the planning process for data centres over certain size thresholds to reclassify them as strategic infrastructure”. Again, for the benefit of the person who made the comment about ill-informed comments, let us look at what else was said in the statement, which continued, “While investments in a range of sectors are utility intensive and will increase demand, it is important to acknowledge that data centres pose considerable challenges to the future planning and operation of Ireland’s power system.” This warning was given in June 2018. It also stated:

Such challenges arise in terms of renewable energy policy/objectives ... community acceptance ... By recognising these challenges, [which were clearly outlined] the Government can take steps to mitigate them so that Ireland optimises the benefits that these strategically important investments bring.

The challenges were recognised and steps were to be taken, which clearly were not taken. It is a very short document and it clearly was ignored. On page 12, it is stated, “The Commission for the Regulation of Utilities ... plans to work with EirGrid to develop a range of measures, potentially including locational signals, to ensure that local and regional security of electricity supply is maintained and to facilitate demand growth associated with data centres”, and, of course, other high energy user companies as well.

Here we are today, looking at a Bill with 14 sections, ostensibly to protect our security, and we are rushing it through. There is no pre-legislative scrutiny, no regulatory impact assessment and no proper time to tease out the issues. We have a situation where the risks were clearly highlighted years ago and we failed to act on those risks. Today, we have no analysis and we just have to take the Government's assurance in regard to this matter, where the market we have glorified has failed. This is an acknowledgement the market has failed. The Government is now stepping in to help the market until it performs again in the manner we want it to perform in. We are going to allow EirGrid to acquire plant infrastructure and then we are going to direct it to sell it. It cannot operate the infrastructure itself because it is a network and it distributes, but it is going to be used to buy a plant network, including acquiring electricity generation plants. The way energy plant and electricity plant is used is very strange. We are not told anything about how those plants will be fuelled. We are not told how it will be sold to the operator. There is a sunset clause with a built-in extension, so we are talking about five to six years. Then, that operator will be told to sell it off at arm’s length and something will come back to the Government, but we have no idea about that. Does that not sound totally bizarre?

At the very least, we should acknowledge there is clearly a warning to us that the State should be involved in regard to utility provision, as Deputy Bríd Smith outlined earlier. If we have learned anything, it is that we cannot continue on with the growth model. Of course, I want a thriving economy, but I have learned that a thriving economy as defined by neoliberalism is a disaster. We have had Covid, we have declared two emergencies and we are still going ahead, boasting that Ireland is one of the fastest growing countries in Europe and the world. We do not seem to realise we must question that model. We must question data centres. Of course, they have a role and, of course, we need them, but we need to question what is their role and how they can be sustainable.

We have looked at the capacity statement from EirGrid from more than a year ago and it told us there were four options. The one that is currently in place is the developer-led model, as set out in the statement from EirGrid as a prelude to its consultation. Nowhere in the speech given today by the Minister of State is there any context about where we are now going as a small country with, in theory, fantastic supplies of wind, water and sun, actually, and how we are going to use those sources of energy so we can have independence and maximise the output to the people, so we bring them on board, as opposed to the endless consumption model we are working from. At the very least, there might be an apology for having had no review of the data centres, for the hymn of praise back in 2018, and for not knowing where the review is, or there might be a recognition that there has to be fundamental change. EirGrid’s all-island generation capacity statement outlines that data centres could account for 23% of energy demand. This is a median estimate and not even the worst scenario, and we have in excess of 70 data centres at the moment.

I have repeatedly stood up in the House and said I am an absolute supporter of the Green Party in its recognition of a climate emergency and a biodiversity emergency, but what is happening here is that we are pretending we can go on with an endless consumption model and deal with a climate emergency. It is not possible. What we are doing here today is rushing through legislation in the guise of an emergency when that emergency has been apparent for years. We are twisting language on its head and talking about ill-informed comment when all of that has been allowed by the Government in the manner in which it is rushing this legislation through without context, without discussion and without allowing us to see what all of this actually means, when EirGrid buys an electricity plant and then sells it on. Does that not make us question what is going on here in regard to market failure and what we learn from that?

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