Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy Burke for his contribution and comments, and I will take his remarks back to the Minister. As I said earlier, next month the Minister will bring a policy document on private wires to Cabinet. However, private wires alone will not solve the issues currently facing the data centre sector in Ireland. To date, Ireland has attracted the best data centre and tech companies in the world, which is an important relationship, and Government continues to work with the sector towards a secure and decarbonised energy future.

Data centre electricity demand is a global challenge for companies and governments. In Ireland, there are current and real network constraints in facilitating new data centre connections, particularly in Dublin. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities is currently reviewing the results of the recent public consultation on a new proposed data centre connection policy. While in the near term already-contracted data centres will be accommodated in the grid, for the medium term, the Government is committed to developing a plan that will, inter alia, guide the development of plan-led data centre infrastructure to provide a certainty to the sector over the medium term. The programme for Government commits to scale up investment in critical infrastructure, including electricity, and this is key to facilitating the delivery of future demand growth.

I expect the Commission for Regulation of Utilities to shortly publish its minded-to decision on price review 6. PR6 will see the CRU approve by year end the investment in the grid spanning the four-year period 2026 to 2030. ESB Networks, as part of the PR6 process, has requested a baseline investment in the onshore grid of €10.1 billion, with the potential to grow to €13.4 billion. This is an increase from the €4.4 billion approved under PR5.

In conclusion, PR6 will assist in Ireland maintaining a reliable and resilient electricity network to meet the needs of customers and society, delivering additional network capacity at all voltage levels.

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