Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimhe an Aire Stáit.  I wish to raise the issue of islanded data centres, which rely primarily on on-site fossil fuel generation and direct gas connections. This is a growing concern in our efforts to combat carbon emissions and keep within our carbon budget.

From the time that the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, precluded many new data centre projects from signing up to the electricity network, Gas Networks Ireland, GNI, started seeing increased requests for data centre connections to the gas network on the basis that data centres would operate their own gas-fired generation on site.

In July 2022, the Government adopted its statement on data centres. In many regards, the statement supports the status quoand does not go far enough to properly fix the mess that Fine Gael policy has got us into. However, one thing it did get right was to clarify that new islanded data centres would not be in line with national policy. Also, these would run counter to emissions reduction objectives and would not serve the wider efficiency and decarbonisation of our energy system. The next day the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Ryan, wrote to Gas Networks Ireland to indicate that it would not be appropriate for the organisation to sign any more contracts to connect data centres to the gas grid. I am led to believe that GNI responded and said that it was mandated under the Gas Act to supply connections to third parties.

In September 2022, I raised this matter with the regulator. I put it to CRU that the move to islanded data centres would blow our carbon budget out of the water. The regulator said they "need to look at the implications for the carbon sectoral emissions limits" and "there is a bit more work to be done but we are engaging with GNI on that."

In October 2022, I issued a statement calling on the Government to bring forward emergency legislation, that we need, to prevent data centres from connecting to the gas grid. I also said that whatever roadblocks there were preventing Gas Networks Ireland from following his instruction to stop connecting islanded data centres to the grid had to be cleared.

Unfortunately, a year has elapsed and my call has gone unheeded. In a brazen show of disregard to its line Minister, GNI issued a gas forecast statement which states: "Gas Networks Ireland believe that Data Centres connecting to the gas network could meet... [the principles set out in the Government’s data centre policy statement] ...through the increased use of biomethane and hydrogen” and that it would continue as normal.

The Oireachtas joint environment committee has written to the Climate Change Advisory Council, CCAC, seeking clarification on how a decision like the one to grant Microsoft a data centre in Tallaght could be avoided in the future. In the light of the Government’s Statement on the Role of Data Centres in Ireland’s Enterprise Strategy, the CCAC has now also recommended that the regulator should direct GNI not to sign any more contracts to connect data centres to the gas network where the data centre would be powered mainly by on-site fossil fuel generation under section 10A of the Gas Act to reflect the Government's statement. If there is a legislative barrier, it is imperative that the Government take action to revise the Gas Act in line with national policy and the principles set out in the Government's statement.

The Minister of State present does not have responsibility for this area and I do not mean any disrespect when I say that I am disappointed that neither the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Ryan, nor his Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, could come here to answer my question because the issue I have raised is a real threat to our carbon budget. Does the Minister of State present, considering the response that her ministerial colleagues gave her, see any legislative barrier to preventing GNI from connecting more data centres in this manner? Is there any proposal to take the legislative action that is required to end this procedure where GNI basically ignores directions from the Minister and the climate Act, and continues to connect data centres to its gas grid.