85. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform for an update on the progress of a State data centre; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27731/25]

Sentiment score: 0.15

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. I have a couple of comments. I welcome the fact that the project seems to have worked well. We hear a lot about public sector projects and about the ones that do not work well but this one seems to have come in on time and on budget. It is very positive that the data will be located in Ireland. It is very important that the State has control of its own data because this is an issue for international data centres and jurisdictions. With regard to policy, I support data centres. We all use our phones every day and they run off services based in data centres. The Government can take a good lead here with respect to renewable energy. That is number one. It should lead out on data centres transitioning to long-term sustainable sources of renewable energy. The CRU's view is that Dublin is constrained. There is a long-term opportunity to distribute data centres around the west of Ireland in particular where there are renewable energy opportunities in the form of offshore, which is not that well developed but it will get there. It distributes economy activity.

Sentiment score: 0.23

I thank the Minister of State. Decarbonisation is vital. Data centres are with us for the long term. Let us distribute them; they have economic value. It is a good way to distribute economic value to other regions in the country. Those regions may have better access to renewable energy than the Dublin region or Leinster. In the long term, the Government can take a lead on this. I know the Minister of State has personal know-how in this area. I welcome the Government's work on this. Green jobs, as Deputy Byrne said, are the future. Technology is interlocked with that, whether we like it or not. Some people do not like it but it is a fact of life. Private wire is part of that, as Deputy Heneghan said. Whether we like it or not, we have to move with this.

Sentiment score: 0.24