Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Apologies, I am trying to triple-job.

As others have said, this Bill focuses on technical responsibilities for Gas Networks Ireland in the context of its separation from Ervia. I welcome section 21 and that the Freedom of Information Act is being amended to delete Ervia from the list of exempted bodies as GNI was already a relevant body and it is welcome that it will remain so. However, semi-State companies such as Ervia were exempt from complying with the climate Act because they were exempt from freedom of information requests. After the passing of the climate Act, I sought clarity on Committee Stage from officials from the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, on this point back in January 2022 and there was none forthcoming. In fact, no one could tell us which bodies were going to be considered relevant bodies under the climate Act. I even followed up with a parliamentary question to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, in May 2022, who again, could not provide any clarity and said that the Department was seeking legal advice at that time. Finally, it was only in September 2022 that the Minister was finally able to confirm that Ervia, along with other commercial semi-State companies such as Dublin Bus, Dublin Airport Authority, and the ESB, were not bound by the climate Act.

Would the Minister of State consider taking this opportunity to amend the Freedom of Information Act to remove the FOI and climate exemptions from other bodies, while he is removing Ervia from that proposal? In this legislation, we could also take the opportunity to remove those other bodies from the FOI exemption. While this is a rather technical Bill, it presents a crucial opportunity to take meaningful steps towards reducing our reliance on environmentally harmful and costly fossil fuels including gas. There are several aspects of the Bill which could be tightened up, and Sinn Féin will certainly be bringing amendments to address the role and the function of GNI regarding the climate Act, but today I will spend most of my time focused on the issue of islanded data centres. Since October 2022, I have been calling for emergency legislation to prevent data centres from being connected to the gas grid because as data centres were not allowed to connect to the electricity grid due to the moratorium, they were then taking it upon themselves to generate electricity on site with gas by connecting to the gas grid instead. Initially, there were 11 data centres seeking connection and the last we have heard is that there are more than 25 on top of these 11. These islanded data centre connections to the grid could completely blow our carbon budget out of the water with their ever-increasing demand for gas. Not only that, as gas supply from the Corrib gas field wanes and we face into a supposed gas supply crisis, it makes no sense whatsoever for us to simply swap the strain currently on our electricity supply, and shift that problem by putting a strain on our gas supply. The Government has said in the statement on data centres that the islanded data centres are inconsistent with Government policy but that Gas Networks Ireland maintains that it is legally obliged to provide anyone who seeks a gas connection with one.Not only that, GNI thinks that the principles in the Government statement on data centres can be achieved with continued data centre connection as long as we believe that hydrogen, biomethane and whatever fairy dust you are having yourself will decarbonise the gas grid. It is fanciful to think we can continue to grow demand for gas, electricity and flights while maintaining a liveable climate.

We are calling for urgent legislation. The Government's Climate Change Advisory Council has also come out in favour of much stronger action against islanded data centres. In a letter to the joint Oireachtas committee, the chair of the council, Marie Donnelly, outlined that she wants the Commission for Regulation of Utilities not to sign any more contracts to connect data centres to the gas network, and suggested that if the gas Act prevents such action from being taken, the Government should take immediate action to change it. As we have seen, GNI is clearly out of step with Government policy regarding connections for islanded data centres, and is showing very little willingness to accept its climate responsibilities and to play ball. Therefore, I think it will be necessary to take strong legislative action to force it to get on board with the transition.

There is a very important opportunity here to amend this legislation and to reduce our reliance on gas. The Government appears to have a general rule of not working collaboratively with the Opposition to implement constructive proposals when they are brought forward. I really hope it will not be the case with the amendments we bring to this legislation. We are in a unique position in this country because the vast majority of elected representatives in both the Lower and Upper Houses back the climate Act and the sectoral emissions targets, and are looking to work collectively so that we can achieve those climate targets.

I encourage the Minister of State to engage with Committee Stage of this legislation, and to engage with our amendments, which seek to bring GNI in line with the Government's own position around islanded data centres. I also have to ask whether any consideration has been given to the Climate Change Advisory Council's requests. After reviewing the Committee Stage debate from the Dáil, it certainly was not clear that the request from Marie Donnelly had been listened to, assessed or engaged with in any meaningful way in order to address the concerns raised by the council. I know the Minister of State said at the time that there was not sufficient time to accept the amendments on the basis that he had to have them checked through legally. Now that we are here in the Seanad, he has a second chance. I hope that when it comes to Committee Stage, he will engage with the process and adopt our amendments to prevent data centres from connecting to the gas grid.

As I said, we are unique. Climate denial is not a huge issue in this country. In fact, the polls consistently show that Irish people are very concerned about climate change. It is imperative that when we are in the position of trying to work constructively together on the Opposition benches, the Minister of State will engage in that process, hear us out in good faith and be willing to work with us when we bring forward amendments. It is not right, even in terms of the just transition, that we are telling people they have to reduce their electricity supply and the amount of gas they are using for home heating while at the same time we are literally linking up data centres to the gas grid with no potential for them to transition out of being connected to those gas grids because they are, as the name suggests, islanded data centres.

I look forward to engaging on Committee and Report Stages of this Bill. As I said, the two key points for us are the connection to the gas grid by data centres and making sure we use this opportunity to bring more of those semi-State bodies into the climate Act as relevant bodies by exempting them from the FOI legislation, as has been done with Ervia.