Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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498. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to provide an update on the status of a national data centre policy; whether the Government is in the process of drafting it; when it is likely to be completed; and what the arrangements are for public consultation. [10844/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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The Government has a national data centre policy. The 2022 Government Statement on the Role of Data Centres in Ireland's Enterprise Strategy takes account of energy capacity constraints and the need to ensure that the twin transition of decarbonisation and digitalisation of Ireland’s economy and society are complementary and in harmony with environmental policy. The Statement adopts a series of principles to inform future data centre development in Ireland and signals that the data centre infrastructure that can be accommodated in Ireland should contribute positively to our climate and digital ambitions. These principles remain aligned with Government’s current ambitions for sustainable data centre development, and as such there are no plans to revise the 2022 Government Statement on the Role of Data Centres. Data centres continue to be critical infrastructure for our modern economy. They are a key part of our value proposition for foreign direct investment and central to Ireland’s economic and digital future.

The Programme for Government 2025 commits to developing a comprehensive plan to accelerate energy generation, connectivity, and planning processes. The plan will emphasise renewable sources to provide certainty for industries making short- and medium-term investments. This plan will further guide the future development opportunities for very large energy users, such as data centres, in alignment with our decarbonisation objectives and growing Ireland’s knowledge-based economy.

My Department is also currently procuring expert services to inform our industrial policy approach, and this will set out the economic and societal impacts of data centres in Ireland, and the scenarios for developing the data centre landscape beyond 2030, with a view to optimising the future benefits to Ireland. Our industrial policy approach necessarily interacts with plans for investment in our energy infrastructure, and the electricity grid in particular, which are prepared by the electricity system operators under the regulation of the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU). These plans are subject to public consultation as part of the CRU's regulatory process. I engaging regularly with my colleague, Minister for Climate, Environment and Energy, Minister O'Brien T.D., on the investment now required in our energy infrastructure.

Where a national strategy directly informs spatial planning decisions, or forms part of the planning hierarchy under the National Planning Framework, it would be subject to public consultation as appropriate. This includes the planned delivery of energy infrastructure. It is not yet determined whether any future industrial policy approach to data centre or large energy user developments would also adopt such an approach.