Taoiseach Micheál Martin has given tech companies the green light to build data centres in Ireland.
But Mr Martin said it would become Government policy for companies to be required to prove they can generate their own energy if necessary.
The Taoiseach’s comments come despite the on-going debate around the introduction of new carbon emissions targets and EU plans to limit natural gas use by member states.
He said he does not believe data centres should be seen as "Boogeymen" in the climate discussion.
Speaking to reporters in Tokyo, Mr Martin said: “There can’t be a moratorium on them.
“In a digitalised world data centres are now part of the package.
“When particular companies invest in Ireland and have a big presence in Ireland they're saying it's not one or the other.
“You can’t say you want all of our investment but by the way, we don't want you doing anything with a data centre.
"So we have to weigh that up in terms of our Foreign Direct Investment offering.
“We can't say no to all data centres because that potentially would be saying no to a lot of investment on the technology front both on the digital and the bigger companies."
There are now around 70 data centres in Ireland, with tech giants such as Amazon, Facebook and Google all having storage facilities here. Figures from the CSO in May showed electricity consumption by data centres increased by 32% in 2021 compared to the previous year, and has risen 265% since the start of 2015 to the end of last year.
The State’s utilities watchdog, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) in a report last year said the ability of new data centres to support supply if needed will be a key factor in future decision making around whether they are given access to the national electricity grid.
Mr Martin was speaking to reporters before he arrived in Singapore on Thursday where the Government recently lifted a moratorium on the building of data centres.
Data centres have been a contentious issue recently due to the amount of energy and water they consume.
Mr Martin confirmed that the upcoming Government policy to be announced by the Tànaiste Leo Varadkar in the coming weeks will make this official government policy.
The Fianna Fáil leader said the new policy will “bring clarity” for businesses seeking to invest in Ireland.
He added: “I think some companies get comfort from the fact that in the next five years we will be far more reliant on wind energy and stuff like that, which gives them a longer term guarantee on data centres.
"There won't be the same number of data centres built.
“We have to avoid speculative data centres- ones that are built and then are looking for clients that's something we're not in favour of.
"What we're saying is if there are certain long established entities in this country who've invested a lot in this country, who are going to invest a lot and if data centres are going to be part of that mix, we have to facilitate that."
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