Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to misquote the Senator, but what we do in Ireland is important for the planet.It is not that I think this but that I know it. There are only 5 million of us in Ireland, but we have a much higher usage per capitathan the average use in the world. If every community of 5 million people globally took this attitude, if every city in China of 5 million people said "we are just 5 million people, so we might as well not do anything", then clearly we would never be able to solve any problem related to pollution. Climate change and GHG emissions are a form of pollution. If we were to say it does not matter if I throw all my rubbish into the sea in my country, because we are only 5 million people, only 0.1% of the population, and if everybody were to take this attitude, then we will be in trouble.

The whole basis of worldwide global climate action is collective action. This means that people get together and agree that we will do this if you do that and let us all agree this is how we will approach the issue. It is part of civilisation. The attitude I mentioned is a formula for abdicating our responsibilities as citizens as well. It is an attitude of what I do in life not mattering. It is one where the view is taken that I can throw everything on the ground and abuse people because I am just one person, and the rest of the population of the world can go and comply with laws if they want. We are a society and not just a country, and also a global community of people trying to share an atmosphere.We cannot have the attitude that what we do individually or collectively as a country is insignificant and, therefore, we might as well do nothing. I was shocked to hear that, but maybe the Senator can clarify what he meant by it.

Guidelines on data centres were published by the then Government in 2018. I do not believe they made any reference whatsoever to the climate or security of supply. They were entirely aimed at allowing more investment in tech business. They had to be updated. Clearly, data centres can have a major effect on energy demand, which is why there are new guidelines. Data centres must provide 100% backup. They must also ensure there is an equivalent quantity of renewable energy added to the grid compared with what they need. They must improve security of supply rather than decrease it. I do not want to misquote anyone, but I believe Senator Boylan stated that we absolutely needed data centres.