Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I tend to agree. As the Tánaiste becomes Taoiseach this weekend, I make one request of him in relation to the opportunity he identified on wind energy. I met representatives of a group of wind companies form Denmark, Norway and Ireland, which have European- and Irish-backed funds. They spoke to me about the opportunity in Ireland and said we are possibly missing the chance to realise it quickly enough because of the gaps in planning, grid and demand certainty. Even if the first round of auctions goes through and that becomes operational, we will have much more capacity than demand on the island. These companies are making the point that without data centres running as a constant, they cannot be sure there will be sufficient use. There is so more use needed - I am sorry, it is 1 a.m. and I am not saying this well – to be able to sustain the amount of energy produced. They have to build into the risk profile the possibility of turning off turbines in the absence of demand certainty.

EirGrid told me, and this is important to highlight, that it has missed target after target in relation to grid certainty. While the company needs more resources, it also needs to deliver the grid development target set for it. I know there is a big change on the way in planning. There is no point in talking about 800,000 sq. km of opportunity. It simply has to get done on a practical basis now before the financing investment moves elsewhere in Europe or to the United States and we lose this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

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