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 three times that of the wholesale cost. The CRU has carried out extensive monitoring of the Irish retail energy market …

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 this - that we are heaping on additional charges for no reason. The carbon tax or carbon charge, from the time it was in…

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 charge. It is monitored by the CRU and is provided for in PR6.

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 effectively stop generating so that there is not more complexity on the grid. This complex issue can only be addressed b…

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, officials in the Department and the SEAI have met with representatives of EnergyCloud on a number of occasions. As I understan…

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 and employment policy. There is little doubt that in recent years the focus has shifted from the pharmaceutical and medte…

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 to Ireland’s economic and digital future. However, data centres, like all large energy users, have to exist within the bou…

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 that data centres are bad and that we cannot facilitate them any more. The Government does not agree with that position. Th…

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 would not be able to invest in services, hospitals or whatever else. We have to have a balanced approach, while also keep…

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 MW hour. There have been a number of auctions in other countries that have effectively failed because there were no bid…

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 in recent years is move towards the plan-led approach. Prior to that, it was basically that developers identified sites a…

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 those projects, which, as I said, are phase 1 and somewhat legacy to the system that is there now, are progressed and p…

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.

That disappoints me greatly as you have been a mentor of mine for many years here and I depend on your guidance in many other fora as well. I propose to take Questions Nos. 108, 112 and 119. The programme for Government commits to ramping up the achievement of retrofit targets through continued delivery of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland's residential and community energy upgrade schemes. This includes revising and improving the provision of grants and financing models for homeowners who wish to retrofi…

Both Deputies show regular interest in this and have spoken on it in the past. The point about not leaving anybody behind is really important and it has been the focus. Deputy Cronin and I, and her party, are aligned on lots of issues. I sat with Deputy Stanley, a former member of her party, on that committee for years and certainly Sinn Féin was very committed to the transition, but we disagreed ultimately on how to pay for it. We sided with the idea of the carbon tax, the hypothecation of that fund and using that…

I thank the Deputy-----

I am eager.