Timmy Dooley

-----know how much agriculture has changed over the past 50 years. I know what engagement within the European Union has meant and I am shocked by some of the utterances, that some people say our future would be better - I am not saying Deputy Kenny said this but it is part of this narrative - outside the European Union.

Sadly, the Deputy and I know that is not the case.

Which European treaty did Sinn Féin support? We would not be there today if it was up to Sinn Féin.

Every day.

It would have passed either way.

That is the European Parliament now.

My understanding is that he has been away all week in Strasbourg. He has been involved in issues relating to the Irish Presidency.

He feels he is well covered by the presence of two Ministers of State to represent him. I hope the Deputy will understand and appreciate this. We will bring back the Deputy's good wishes and concern for him.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 100 and 101 together. I know Deputy Daly is interested in this matter. He has raised it in the House on a few occasions, so he has a good track record on it. As he is aware, the electricity and gas retail markets in Ireland operate within an EU regulatory regime wherein these markets are commercial and liberalised. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, …

As we said, it is of very serious concern to the Government that the energy component of retail prices in Ireland is significantly above the wholesale cost. The IEA renewables report notes that the gap is widening across the countries studied since the start of the energy crisis. Of course that is concerning. The gap is particularly large in Ireland with the energy component of retail prices up to…

The old adage of all politics being local is alive and well for the Christmas season in Kerry. The Government understands the importance of a functioning energy market. It is the role of the CRU to manage that. The Minister has sought that piece of work to be done and it will inform any decisions that have to be taken thereafter. It is easy to say - although I am not accusing Deputy Daly alone of…

I know some Deputies will have a different view but that is very much what has happened with that funding. It was not about raising a tax or an additional charge for the sake of it. It was about attempting to change behaviour and then utilising the moneys collected to assist those facing challenges in moving away from fossil fuels. That is working, of that there is no doubt.

Deputy Daly talked about the additional charge under PR6 that will go into upgrading the grid. That is really important. That work has to be done. We have significant constraints on our electricity grid at the moment that need to be addressed. Unfortunately, that has to be paid for and that is why the CRU monitors all of these charges. Companies do not have a free-for-all in terms of what they cha…

As the Deputy knows, imperfections and dispatch down are a major challenge facing the electricity system. Obviously, dispatch down is brought about by constraints on the grid and the challenges of getting the electricity from the point of generation to where there is a demand and a need. If the grid is not capable of carrying the electricity at a particular time, energy generators are required to …

As the Deputy knows, the generation of electricity is one thing but the transmission of it is another. Oftentimes electricity is generated at locations where there is not demand for it and it has to be transmitted through the various different networks that exist. It is not as simple as taking it from one location to another because of the constraints that I talked about earlier. Of course, offici…

I will be answering a question from Deputy Paul Murphy shortly on data centres but suffice to say that in the view of the Government data centres are a really important component of our growing economy and of the future in relation to the technological investment that we get here. Ireland has always been attractive to foreign direct investment which has been a bedrock of our industrial, economic a…

I appreciate the Deputy's interest in this matter. It does not align with mine, but his is a well-held view and he has aired it on more than one occasion. Ireland has attracted the best data centre and tech companies in the world. This is a really important relationship and the Government continues to work with the sector towards a secure and decarbonised energy future. Data centres are central t…

The Deputy has to look at it from a Government perspective. We have to ensure the economy remains robust and that we have a strategy in place to ensure - based on the sector trends - that we are able to attract investment in order to continue to provide employment for what is a growing population. Sometimes, others bury their heads in the sand - I am not suggesting Deputy Murphy does - and say tha…

The Deputy has to accept that the long-term strategy of the Government is to generate much more electricity from renewables. We have a target of 20 GW of offshore renewable energy by 2040. The Deputy is right in the sense that gas is a transition fuel, as we move away from fossil fuels.

It is. Deputy Murphy made the point that gas is the basis of his argument. We have to accept that as we work towards bringing more renewables onto the grid, we just cannot stand still, bury our heads in the sand and watch data centres and tech companies and the investment associated with them go elsewhere. If that happened, our society would be left behind, our economy would be in trouble and we w…

The Deputy is right in what he said. The lack of capacity is due to the phasing out of the facility on the Arklow Bank. The Deputy will be familiar with the announcement recently about the Tonn Nua site, which is just off the south-east coast. That announcement was very positive in the sense that an auction system was deployed. We had four bidders and we got a very good price at less than €100 per…

To the Deputy's last point, we are fortunate that due to the way in which our auctions are designed, we have attracted significant bidders. Four is particularly good. There were instances in the UK, Denmark and Germany where there were no bidders because they had moved away from the contract for difference component of the auction. We are, therefore, in a very healthy position. What we have done i…

I fully support what the Deputy is saying. The projects he referred to are projects that have been there. They are referred to as the phase 1 projects. They were in existence prior to the State intervening to resolve the issue by having a plan-led approach and setting out a clearer pathway for companies to progress their ambitions. Of course, we are working with those companies also to ensure that…

I understood it was Questions Nos. 98, 102 and 109.

Perhaps the Leas-Cheann Comhairle will give me guidance as to which of the three have an opportunity now or what way does he want it.