Listening to the Minister's comments about the arrears issue, I noted he turned it into a maths equation. I cannot believe how disconnected he is from the reality on the ground. If he needs another reminder, we had fuel protests some time ago. The entire nation was convulsed. Even the former Minister of State Deputy Michael Healy-Rae was so convulsed by it that he stood up and said he had no confidence in the leadership of the Government. He went out and held his fist up in support of the protesters. This morning, of course, he is back in love with the Government as he tries to get himself back into some sort of ministerial role. I am very glad to support the Labour Party motion, my party's motion, because it speaks the truth that can no longer be ignored. Of course, data centres have a crucial role to play in much of the economic development of this country, but there is no use having them if, in a few years' time, people will go home from working in companies that have benefited from them and there is no electricity to turn their lights on. This has happened in other parts of the world. We should learn from the experience of other areas. The evidence on the climate is stark. Last month, temperatures in Ireland in May exceeded 30°C. If that is not an indication of climate change, what is? I do not know what weather they have in Kerry, but Deputy Danny Healy-Rae seems to have no confidence whatsoever that climate change is taking place. He should say that to those in places like Enniscorthy and other parts of the country that are decimated almost year in, year out as a result of it. A recent UN report described Ireland as a cautionary tale for the environmental impact of data centres. That should alarm every single Member of this House. We now have over 22% of our electricity consumed by data centres, and this is projected to rise to 30% by 2030, and potentially to an unbelievable 55% if growth continues unchecked. That would mean data centres would be using more electricity than every home, farm, small business, hospital and school in the country combined. The Minister spoke about retrofitting. Retrofitting would be a most welcome addition to every home in the country. However, when you ask people to come up with €30,000, €40,000 or €50,000 in matching funding, you might as well be asking them for €1 million. They just do not have it. It is too expensive for ordinary decent working people to invest in. They do not have the money. One of the things I have proposed in the past is a fair deal-type scheme for retrofitting, whereby the Government would invest to ensure the people have access. There is no use having a great scheme if people cannot access it. There is a great scheme, but you have to have tens of thousands of euro in addition to the grant. The Government's own policies are making the situation worse. The CRU's large energy user connection policy, the private wires legislation and the proposed LNG terminal all point in the same direction: more fossil fuels. The Climate Change Advisory Council has already warned that all new renewable energy is being swallowed up by new data centre demand. Where there are vast solar farms, and there is one in Gusserane in Wexford, people have no real problem; however, they do have a problem in a very rural area where 100 battery energy storage system, BESS, batteries are being installed, each the size of a container. We have to look into this again.

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