Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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467. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the location of each Industrial Development Agency supported data centre; the total State funding involved in each project; the number of long term direct jobs created by each project; the plans for further data centres; their locations and job projections; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13583/14]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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All of the IDA Ireland client company data centres are located in the Dublin area and therefore did not receive any financial funding from the Agency. Dublin is now fast emerging as one of Europe’s major hubs for data centre services and cloud computing infrastructure. Since January 2010, significant data centre investments have been secured for Ireland from companies such as Google, Microsoft, Digital Reality Trust, Amazon, Betfair, Telecity Group and Adobe.

The Forfás Annual Employment Survey reports on job gains and losses in client companies of the enterprise development agencies. However, as information is supplied by companies on a confidential basis for statistical purposes only, it is not possible to isolate data centre job numbers from the Survey. Data centres by their very nature are utility intensive and create little direct employment. Typically, data centres employ small numbers of people when operational. Though the jobs numbers are low, these jobs are generally well paid, in the region of €75K per annum, and provide secure employment for a considerable period of time.

Data centres are a highly capital intensive investment and as such provide a significant economic impact during the construction phase both from a spend and employment perspective. A major benefit of data centres, as a form of inward investment, is the fact that they tend to have long life spans. Data centres are typically designed to last 12-15 years and since they need local power and communications infrastructure to be available, they are location dependent. For this reason, data centres can remain on the same site for 20-30 years, making them a long term investment.

In recognition of the potential for Ireland to capitalise on and secure significant investments in this sector and associated areas, the 2013 Action Plan for Jobs introduced a Disruptive Reform with the overall ambition to “build on existing enterprise strengths to make Ireland a leading country in Europe in the area of Big Data and Data Analytics. Among the key initiatives progressed in 2013 were:

- The establishment of a Taskforce on Big Data and Data Analytics with a mapping of infrastructure and initiatives supporting Big Data and Data Analytics in Ireland and the identification of pilot projects to demonstrate the impact of Big Data and Data Analytics;

- The launch of Insight, the SFI‐supported research centre for data analytics involving a €88 million investment by Government and industry and the launch by Enterprise Ireland; and

IDA Ireland of the CEADAR Technology Centre in data analytics:

- Preparations for Ireland’s membership of the Open Government Partnership including a commitment to a number of actions in the area of “open data”;

- Support for a number of courses targeting the area of data analytics particularly under the Call for ICT Conversion Courses in 2013 and the completion by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs and Forfás of a study of skills demand in Big Data and Data Analytics.

The 2014 Action Plan for Jobs builds on these 2013 initiatives and investments and will help to give Ireland a leadership position in a number of specific aspects of Big Data and Data Analytics.