Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

These amendments are not outside the scope of the Bill as they are all in order. These are attempts to offer assistance in terms of progressing this and taking action. Rather than looking for reasons these amendments might be dismissed, what we should be hearing from the Minister of State is what urgent actions are being taken.

The CRU did a review four years ago. I know this because I put in a submission. The CRU was given three options then. One of those was to stop escalating the connection of data centres and it chose not to do so. The CRU made a very conscious choice with all of the information and the public consultation. What has since happened is exactly what it was warned about. The CRU and the Government chose not to take substantive measures.

We heard there were initially 11 data centres seeking connection to the gas grid nut now there will be 25. Every time a connection such as that is made there is a potentially huge energy user embedding fossil fuels. It is literally the "stop digging" principle. I will be very clear that we will potentially end this Government's term having dug deeper into fossil fuels and having large energy users connected to fossil fuels, which is what gas is. That is what it will be. That is escalating and there does not seem to be any sense of urgency. There is a kind of laconic, "We will see if the CRU...". The CRU will not do it. It did not do anything when it had the opportunity. The CRU is doing a new review. It told us about it last year.

In the meantime, the same bad decisions are being made again and again and the Minister of State comes into the House and says the Department does not think this is the chance to address it. What we should hear is a Minister and Department angry, or if not angry at least passionate, about the fact that when they signal something is a massive danger to the climate and that action needs to be taken, they are ignored and that they use the tools available to them, including the legislative tools, accept amendments from others or bringing their own, to take serious and speedy action. We should be hearing about what will happen before the summer to ensure we do not have Gas Networks Ireland continuing on the same trajectory it is going on and that we do not find ourselves dug in with more connections, and more fossil fuel, long-term large-scale energy users, and that we do not embed ourselves further into fossil fuels, especially gas which is extraordinarily volatile in terms of price, its impact on the environment and of human rights.