Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 10 relates to when new users are offered connection or enhanced connection to the network. The regulator may review offers made in terms of their alignment with the carbon budget and make appropriate directions. Applicants should conduct assessment of the greenhouse gas emissions impact of their connection. The amendment concerns the role of the commission in regulating the granting of access to the gas network. The amendment proposes that the CRU may conduct reviews of reasons for making an offer and make appropriate recommendations realigning with the carbon budgets. The amendment also proposes that when making an application, the terms for connection or enhancement should include an assessment of the greenhouse gas emissions.

Amendment No. 14 proposes where connection or enhancement of the upstream pipeline of the operator is required, an offer made will include the details of the associated greenhouse gas emissions. This grouping is seeking to overcome any potential barriers that would prevent the regulator and the system operator from rejecting an application for connection. On Committee Stage, I outlined the history of the issue, how GNI was receiving applications for islanded data centres because of the electricity grid constraints and the position taken by the Government against this islanded approach in its statement on data centres. We then had the intervention of the Climate Change Advisory Council, which recommended against these islanded data centres and that immediate steps be taken to remove any legislative barriers that may be in place. Initially 11 data centres were seeking connection to the gas grid. Since all of this has happened we have recently heard that there are now a further 25 data centres seeking connection. All of this comes after the Minister wrote to GNI instructing it to not connect any more data centres to the gas grid. I had asked the Minister if legislation was required would we see it forthcoming. We have not, and now we are looking at a situation where we could potentially have upwards of 36 islanded data centres connected to the gas grid.

The writing has been on the wall for four years since October 2022. We called for emergency legislation to prevent this happening. It did not materialise and we are now working on it. This may be a technical Bill, but it gives the Government another opportunity to end the madness of having data centres connecting to the gas grid with no future in terms of getting off the grid and moving on to renewable energy. GNI's justification that biogas should somehow fill the gap does not hold water, as I am sure the Minister of State knows as he is right across this issue. It is only possible to have a mix of gas up to a certain percentage before the infrastructure has to be replaced. The evidence does not backup what GNI is saying about there being some future renewable gas that will connect to these data centres and everything will be okay in the future.That is just not the case. The science is not there. I ask why the Minister of State is rejecting these amendments unless he will bring forward that emergency legislation to bring this practice to an end.