Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

In saying that we are committing that everything must be compatible with the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Acts, we are saying that this cannot involve expansion of the use of gas. It is the opposite. We must contract. With an organised plan to retreat, we will need some gas for the likes of back-up. We will need some gas-fired generation that will run for very few hours but will be there during periods when the wind or interconnection cannot provide us with capability.

Similarly with data centres, we cannot agree to the further expansion of data centres depending on gas expansion. It is not where that industry will go, or wants to go, because it cannot be outside its own climate limits. That is why this must be a temporary facility. This is an interim solution while we ramp up the alternative electricity supply and our development of biomethane. Yesterday, the Government launched a major initiative in scaling up our natural gas sustainable resources. That is the future - not expanding gas supply.