Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Quite a number of Deputies have asked questions. With regard to the broader picture, the humanitarian assistance scheme has not closed yet. This is my understanding. I think it has been extended. I spoke to the Minister this morning about it and I will clarify it. This is the position as I understand it. The Minister is evaluating the applications that come in.

The existing scheme is catered for in regulation, so it is not moving or shifting the goalposts. In the programme for Government, we identified the need for a more comprehensive bespoke scheme to deal with events of the nature of Storm Éowyn.

I agree fully with Deputy Moynihan regarding energy. For the information of all Deputies, the agenda is to get to 80% of electricity generation coming from renewables by 2030. That objective has not changed. The suggestion from Deputies Moynihan, Bacik, Murphy and Boyd Barrett is that we have torn up the climate Act. We have not. That is a false assertion. However, Deputy Moynihan's point is very valid. If I listen to others in the House, they are saying, essentially, that we are in goodbye-to-the-economy territory.

When you go to the US and other places, you meet people like those at Hanley Energy, for example. That company's technology is in every data centre in the world. It employs 800 people, including 400 in America and 400 here. Its technology is all about reducing and about doing everything possible to moderate the energy output of data centres and so on. In the context of the AI revolution, we have, essentially, had a moratorium on data centres for the past three or four years. If the Deputies opposite are suggesting that we extend that moratorium for another five years, we will have a real problem with our economy.

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