Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

308. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his Department plans to carry out an analysis on the economic and local and community impact of data centres in rural areas; if the type and condition of land used for these developments and their potential impact on the agri-food industry will be assessed by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13362/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Data centres are critical infrastructure for our modern economy as they provide the foundation for almost all online aspects of our lives. Without data centres, much of the digital world that we rely on day to day, from online banking and shopping, accessing health and public services online, to streaming movies, would not be possible. In addition to these services, data centres enable remote working and facilitate improved work life balance for employees.

To date, Ireland has supported the evolution of the data centre sector in Ireland with some of these data centres owned and operated by large multinationals while others serve Ireland’s indigenous technology-based service providers.

Looking to the future, it is important that Ireland manages data centre development in a manner that ensures we can continue to enhance Ireland’s global position in the ongoing digital revolution while at the same time ensuring we are able to meet our climate and energy security objectives.

To inform future policy on data centre development in Ireland, my Department is currently in the process of procuring independent experts to undertake research and analysis to provide a detailed view of the economic and societal benefits arising from data centres in Ireland. This work will look to identify opportunities for Ireland to evolve our data centre landscape in a way that optimises future economic and societal returns.

While the IDA aims to deliver best-in-class enterprise property and site infrastructure for their clients, my Department is not typically engaged in the assessment of the suitability of any relevant lands for a given type of development, and questions in relation to planning may be more appropriate to the Minister of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, whose Department has responsibility for planning. While my Department does engage with and contribute to the planning system, it generally does so at the level of the National Planning Framework (NPF), which sets the overarching spatial planning and development strategy for Ireland at the national level. The high-level objectives set out in the NPF are subsequently reflected at the other levels of the planning system, as under the three Regional and Spatial Economic Strategies, and from there in City and County Development Plans.