Joanne Collins (Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 3, between lines 19 and 20, to insert the following: “(2) Section 4 of the Electricity (Supply) (Amendment) Act 1954 is amended by the insertion of the following:

“(4A) The Board shall borrow to invest in projects on the basis of a prioritisation framework which encompasses—

(a) congestion softeners in areas of high congestion,

(b) security encompassing hospitals, Garda stations, water safety and wastewater treatment,

(c) basic needs encompassing residential construction, and

(d) exceptional cases of public interest, and will exclude grid infrastructure upgrades or connections for data centres.

(4B) The Board shall, within 6 months of the commencement of this Act and annually thereafter, lay before the Houses of the Oireachtas a report detailing:

(a) the amount borrowed under section 4(4) of the Electricity (Supply) (Amendment) Act 1954;

(b) the purposes for which such borrowing was applied including a breakdown of project type;

(c) the projected borrowing required for the next year including a breakdown of project type;

(d) the impact on consumer electricity prices;

and the report shall be subject to review by the Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Energy and the Environment and the Oireachtas Committee of Public Accounts.

(4C) The Board shall ensure that any borrowing under this Act does not result in an increase in domestic electricity tariffs beyond inflationary adjustments, and shall publish an annual statement confirming compliance to be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas.”.”.

We have tabled two amendments in this grouping. Amendment No. 1 seeks to introduce a prioritisation framework for how the ESB uses this borrowing. We are all for the ESB being allowed to borrow extra money because we know it is needed in this country, but we need to ensure that what is being borrowed is being used for the public good. The bottom line is that we want it to be used for housing, Garda stations and schools before it is ever put into a data centre. The public good means for the good of the people living in Ireland so that we can actually build houses. We have umpteen houses that cannot get connections to the grid because it is already at capacity. We are all for the extra spending but we just want to see protocols put in place to ensure that this money is not pumped into data centres. We have to stop looking at the corporate side all of the time and start looking at the residential sector and at what is actually needed in this country.

We are asking for reports to be prepared on what this money is being used for and what projects it is being put into, in the first instance within six months and thereafter every 12 months. We are not seeking six-month reports constantly, but just in the first instance to see exactly how much has been borrowed, what it is being used for, if additional funds are needed and so forth.

Our amendments also seek to strengthen the governance around the ESB's capital stock by requiring the employee share scheme to be subject to an independent audit, with findings published every three months. What we are looking here for is oversight and proper governance. This is taxpayer's money and we need to ensure that we know where it is going and what it is being spent on. Again, we want it spent for the public good and not for corporate good. Members will be sick of hearing me say this but we housing over data centres, 100% and all of the time is what we need to be looking at.

Getting this extra money into the ESB is a good thing. We have seen from the most recent storms how much it takes to get electricity services back up and running and the levels of congestion on the grid. I live in rural Ireland and I know how difficult it can be after a storm. This money needs to be directed correctly to relieve grid congestion. We must make sure that the money is used for essential public service security in schools, hospitals and Garda stations, for housing-related basic needs and defined public interest projects. From time to time projects will come up that will need to connect to the electricity grid. Obviously we are not going to have it closed off or limited to four or five individual areas. Anything that comes under the term "public good" is what we want to provide for in our amendments.