Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to pick up on what the Minister of State said about Gas Networks Ireland being a relevant body. It beggars belief that GNI is aware that is bound by the climate Act, given that all its actions at the moment are contrary to what the Minister, Deputy Ryan, is saying and the climate action plan. It continues to connect data centres to the gas grid despite the Minister, Deputy Ryan, telling it that it should not do so as that runs contrary to the climate action plan. Last week it announced its ten-year network development plan or its demand. The trajectory is deeply concerning in terms of where GNI believes gas demand is going. It flags again that the large energy users are going to feed this demand. These are islanded data centres with no ability to shift to renewable energy. In addition, GNI will connect thousands of new residential connections to the gas grid every year for the next decade. More than 5,000 residential connections will be made this year. That figure far outstrips the number of disconnections. Gas Networks Ireland might technically be under the Act but somebody should inform it that it is obliged to comply with the climate Act. As I said, it has already blatantly ignored what the Minister has asked it to do, which is to cease connecting data centres to the gas grid.