Catherine Ardagh rejects Labour motion and outlines LEAP plan

Comhairleach, I welcome the opportunity to discuss the Labour Party private member's motion on data centres, energy use and climate change. However, the government proposes to reject this motion and put forward, as you know, a counter-motion. The government is fully committed to delivering Ireland's climate ambition across all sectors and to progressing climate action in a planned and coherent way. Our approach ensures that sustainability, affordability, competitiveness and energy security remain central to this policy. This is reflected in our counter-motion, where we demonstrate through effective focus policies and measures we are making tangible progress towards objectives of decarbonisation, while supporting sustained economic growth for wider societal benefits. With regard to climate action, Ireland now has the lowest level of greenhouse gas emissions in 35 years, decoupling population growth and economic success from emissions. The EPA now projects that we are close to meeting our first carbon budget and a decrease in emissions between 13% and 25% by 2030. The work remains ongoing right across government to implement climate mitigation measures. The priority is driving implementation, particularly on high-impact measures with multiple societal and economic benefits. Climate action plans 2024 and 2025 provide the basis for this progress. Work is underway on the next climate action plan, with public consultation launched this week. The plan will continue to focus on the most impactful measures. For example, Ireland is at the forefront of transitioning to an electricity system dominated by variable renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar. We have achieved record-breaking levels of renewable electricity generation, reducing our reliance on imported fossil fuels. Most notably, emissions from electricity generation are estimated to reduce by 53% and 60% by 2030. Significant investment has taken place in increasing the technical flexibility of Ireland's power system to enhance its renewable integration capabilities. The electricity system in Ireland can operate up to 75% wind and solar at any given moment. The International Energy Agency recognise this achievement as remarkable and a global milestone. Ireland currently has over 8 gigawatts of renewable generation capacity and 5 gigawatts of onshore wind and 2.5 gigawatts of solar PV installed, with hydro, biomass and other small sources contributing to the remainder. The government has also prioritised unprecedented investment in our grid of up to £18.9 billion, underpinned by £3.5 billion government equity investment, and expanding our electricity energy generation with a particular priority on renewable energy sources, which will be advantageous for all customers and ensure Ireland's electricity grid continues to provide capacity to support the delivery of government targets across society and the economy. Infrastructure delivery and having a grid that is fit for purpose to support this is critical to our future success. The Critical Infrastructure Bill is a central pillar of the government's Accelerating Infrastructure Report and will make significant contribution to the prompt delivery of nationally important infrastructure, whilst maintaining robust regulatory, environmental and planning safeguards. Accelerated delivery of infrastructure does not disapply our climate commitments or our national level targets, but recognises an urgent need for the completion of major infrastructure projects in the state. The Bill provides for the dis-application of Section 15 of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 in very real circumstances for programmes and projects designated as critical infrastructure. It does not disapply our climate commitments or our national level targets. It will lead to a better balance in decision-making that will lead to an accelerated infrastructure, whilst also preserving the rights of the public to access the courts and the legality of the decisions of public bodies. The original motion also raised a number of concerns with respect to data centres. Data centres are essential to Ireland's modern economy and play a critical enabling role across a wide range of digital-intensive sectors, enhancing the competitiveness of the Irish economy. They strengthen Ireland's position in a strategic, knowledge-intensive regional hub for the ICT sector and also support broader retention and expansion of existing investment that support billions in annual economic value for Ireland via high-wage employment, tax receipts and supplier ecosystems. According to independent analysis, the industry employs 19,500 people directly. Our technology sector, underpinned by data centre infrastructure, accounted for approximately 7% of our total workforce and accounted for over half of total services exported. Their value is evident and government remains committed to supporting sustainable data centre development as a result. It's important to note that unlike countries like the Netherlands, Germany and the UK, Ireland does not host a large energy-intensive industrial sector. Ireland's industrial electricity demand is primarily concentrated in our digital economy. This is our core energy-intensive industry. Germany and other countries consume more electricity to support their heavy industry sites like car manufacturing, steel and chemicals. Connecting such large energy loads is a challenge and many energy systems are grappling with this across the world. In response, the government's Large Energy User Action Plan, LEAP, published in January 2026, set out a plan-led approach for very large and energy-intensive investments, including data centres, which due to scale and energy consumption will benefit from coordinated national planning infrastructure. LEAP will enable Ireland to capture next-generation investment in a planned and managed way and unlock significant associated economic, employment and renewable energy opportunities. Alongside LEAP, the CRU data centre connection policy sets out what is required for new data centre connections, including the requirement to get 80% of its energy through renewable electricity generated in Ireland. The government is acutely aware of the pressure faced by high energy costs and is taking action to help households and businesses with the cost of energy. In recent months, the government introduced a £750 million package of fuel supports, which is among the largest per capita of any EU state. Previously, the government included a range of measures in Budget 2026 to help households with energy costs, an extended VAT reduction on electricity and gas bills until 2030, an increase to the fuel allowance payment, an expanded eligibility which applies to about a quarter of Irish households and a record allocation of £640 million for SEAI retrofit energy home upgrade schemes. Since 2019, we have invested over £1.8 billion in retrofitting and we have been able to provide energy upgrades to 268,000 homes. These upgrades protect those homes and families from energy shocks and reduce their costs on energy consumption. The National Energy Affordability Taskforce is working intensively on an energy affordability plan, which will be submitted to government in quarter three. It will include measures that will enhance energy affordability for households and businesses while delivering key renewable commitments and protecting security of supply and economic stability. In closing, I would like to reiterate the government's counter-motion reflects the reality of the commitments in place and, more importantly, the tangible progress being made and further actions being taken to support and reduce emissions, to retain a prosperous and competitive economy with targeted supports for households and businesses as required. The government is committed to delivering on Ireland's responsibility to address the climate crisis and work is ongoing for the next climate action plan. Work across our governance structures, key sectors and government is underway to outline the key deliverables to continue to reduce our emissions in the most impactful of ways. The National Energy Affordability Taskforce continues to work intensively on an energy affordability action plan to be submitted to government in quarter three of this year. The government's LEAP plan advances a plan-led approach for a very large and energy-intensive investment that will facilitate future investment while unlocking Ireland's renewable energy opportunities. I reiterate that government rejects the Labour Party motion and I propose a government counter-motion that more accurately reflects the reality of the situation.