Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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65. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to provide the terms of reference of the procurement of what the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment recently referred to as an "in-depth research and analysis to provide a detailed view of the economic and societal benefits arising from data centres in Ireland"; and to outline which company has been chosen, and at what cost. [34654/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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My Department has procured independent experts to undertake in-depth research and analysis to provide a detailed view of the economic and societal impacts arising from data centres in Ireland. This study will look to identify opportunities for Ireland to evolve our data centre landscape in a way that optimises future economic and societal returns, and will provide insights for guiding policy on future data centre development in Ireland.

The key objectives of the study are:

1. To describe the data centre landscape in Ireland across a range of data centre characteristics.

2. To determine the economic impacts arising from different types of data centres in Ireland.

3. To determine the societal and wider economic benefits stemming from different types of data centre.

4. To identify:

A. the strategic opportunities and challenges and policy implications for data centre developments in Ireland beyond 2030 with a view to optimising future economic and societal benefits for Ireland.

B. the potential marginal and cumulative opportunity costs of curtailing the development of different types of data centres in Ireland beyond 2030, and, the potential opportunity cost for the wider economy arising from further development of different types of data centres in Ireland beyond 2030.

5. To develop, assess and compare a series of scenarios for data centre developments in Ireland post 2030 that are aimed towards optimising Ireland’s future economic and societal benefits.

A request for tender submissions for the study was issued at the end of February this year, and KPMG were appointed as the successful tenderer on the basis of submitting the Most Economically Advantageous Tender. The value of the contract is €99,938 (ex. VAT).

The full Terms of Reference for the study, as was included as Part C in the Request for Tender document published on e-tenders, is provided to the Deputy.