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Data Centres

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 May 2022

Tuesday, 10 May 2022

Questions (168)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

168. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he met with companies in the course of his recent visit to California that have large-scale data centres in this State; if the concept of cloud based solutions was discussed in order to reduce their carbon foot-print here; if he has engaged with the IDA in respect of promoting cloud storage and networking versus data centres in the context of attracting investment to the State. [23413/22]

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Written answers

I was in the USA from 24th to 29th April 2022 as part of a joint IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland trade mission to the West Coast of the USA. I was accompanied on this trade mission by the CEO of IDA Ireland and the CEO of Enterprise Ireland.

During the visit to the US West Coast, I met with Executives of the following IDA clients: Microsoft; Amazon Web Services; Intel; Apple; Google; and Salesforce. These IDA clients are among the world’s leading technology companies, some of which have data centre investments in Ireland (Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google) and employ approximately 30,000 people in the country.

The discussions during each meeting covered a range of topics including:

Ireland’s commitment to FDI and discussion of clients’ operations in Ireland and future plans;

Ireland’s value proposition for potential future investment;

Irish government policy in areas of interest to international investors;

Ireland's economic progress post COVID-19; and

Impacts of the war in Ukraine on FDI;

Consistent with the continued evolution of the global sector, modern technology companies rely on data centres, and cloud computing, for the continued success of their businesses. The decisions they make to invest in the country, and to continue to expand those investments, are multi-faceted and include issues that impact on company ability to deliver global software and services from Ireland.

“Harnessing Digital: Ireland’s Digital Framework”, the recently published National Digital Strategy, has a number of commitments with regard to use of, and infrastructure for, cloud. It sets a target of 75% of enterprises using cloud technologies by the end of the decade. It also makes a commitment to take a ‘cloud-oriented’ approach to delivery of all public services. In the context of preparing that Strategy, the Department engaged with IDA Ireland on a range of issues, including cloud technology.

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