Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Ryan. As has often been said before, data is the oil of the 21st century. For oil to be of any use, it has to be extracted, refined, stored and distributed and we need to do this with data as well. Like oil, we certainly need to regulate its use and have to be very aware of its environmental concerns but we do need a strategy around data storage in Ireland. The Minister of State will be aware that there are currently 82 data centres in Ireland and they store almost everything that we have on social media but right up to records of hospitals, schools, financial institutions, Government Departments and in fact, I am quite certain a lot of the data relevant to the operation of these Houses is stored in data centres.

It is fair to say that a modern society and modern economy cannot function without data centres and indeed, as we go forward, particularly if we develop systems based on artificial intelligence or other new technologies, we are going to need some form of data storage and we are going to need data centres. This is often misunderstood as to their purpose and there are a lot of false narratives around their operation. Yes, they do consume energy and there is no doubt about that. Yes, they are responsible for emissions so we do need to address that. I notice in The Irish Times this morning Google has stated its greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 48% in the last five years even though Google has a strategy to try to reduce the emissions.

I will bring to attention the story in the Business Post on Sunday by Donal MacNamee and Ellie Donnelly where Leo Clancy, the chief executive of Enterprise Ireland, raised concern about the narrative around data centres, the lack of a forward-thinking plan on their use and also the fact that there has been a note from officials to the Minister, Deputy Peter Burke, in the Department of enterprise expressing concern about a lack of policy in this area. It is now critical that the Government sets out very clearly our policy around this basic infrastructure for a modern society and a modern economy around data centres, when and where they can be constructed and about the requirements for energy consumption and emissions. In the same way as when we look at the need for renewable energies and how we need to have a strategy in that area, we need to understand this critical piece of infrastructure given the fuel that data is for modern societies and modern economies and we need a very clear and understandable Government policy in this area. It needs to allow for an increased number of data centres or larger data centres while at the same time managing our very serious concerns about energy consumption and emissions. The lack of a clear policy in this space at the moment is very concerning.