{"id":586505,"date":"2026-08-08T00:28:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/586505\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:28:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:28:20","slug":"department-of-enterprise-denies-trying-to-predetermine-conclusions-of-data-centre-study-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/586505\/","title":{"rendered":"Department of Enterprise denies trying to \u2018predetermine\u2019 conclusions of data centre study \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Department of Enterprise<\/a> has denied it attempted to \u201cpredetermine or direct\u201d the conclusions of a study on the value of data centres<\/a> to the State.<\/p>\n

There have been calls for a pause on new data-centre development after it emerged that Government officials sought changes to a draft report that would present a \u201cstrong narrative\u201d supporting the development of \u201cour data-centre landscape\u201d beyond 2030.<\/p>\n

Environmental campaigners are concerned about data centres given their high energy usage and the impact on climate action targets and Ireland\u2019s electricity grid. <\/p>\n

In June, Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke<\/a> published a report prepared by KPMG<\/a> entitled The Value of Data Centres to Ireland, with a statement saying it \u201cdemonstrates that data centres are a critical component of Ireland\u2019s digital infrastructure, supporting economic activity, employment and investment\u201d.<\/p>\n

Records released following Freedom of Information requests by Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> show the Department of Enterprise sought changes to a draft version of the report. <\/p>\n

There were numerous changes between the draft and final reports including on how community concerns over high data and water use should be addressed.<\/p>\n

There was also the omission in the published version of a section in the draft report under the heading \u201copportunity costs to data centre investment\u201d that said: \u201cQuestions remain about whether infrastructure support and investment could be more impactful if directed toward public services like transport or housing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The emergence of the documents resulted in stories in The Journal and the Irish Daily Mail.<\/p>\n

Environmental group Friends of the Earth<\/a> called for an \u201cimmediate pause on new data centre developments\u201d in response to the reporting on changes made to the report in advance of its publication. <\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in MEP Lynn Boylan<\/a> said the Government had \u201cdoctored\u201d the report, saying this was \u201cvery concerning\u201d. <\/p>\n

She said there should be a pause in data centre development in place until the electricity grid was capable of taking more of them and that any future facilities \u201cneed to be built at the highest sustainability standards\u201d.<\/p>\n

In response, the Department of Enterprise said the report was commissioned to examine the economic contribution of data centres and not to \u201cduplicate work\u201d done by other agencies on issues such as energy demand, emissions and sustainability.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe department does not accept suggestions that the report was rewritten to support a predetermined policy position,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n

The records show a draft of the report was sent by KPMG to the department last November. <\/p>\n

A department official emailed KPMG on December 11th to say there was a \u201csignificant body of evidence being presented in the draft report\u201d, but \u201cwe have concerns regarding the clarity and communication of the messages\/insights being drawn from the research\u201d.<\/p>\n

They suggested a face-to-face meeting to discuss \u201csome aspects of the report\u201d and said: \u201cIn particular, the exec [executive] summary needs to present a strong narrative that considers the full gamut of the economic analysis and provides the evidence base that supports the position that we should continue to further develop our data-centre landscape post-2030 in the context of our climate objectives.\u201d <\/p>\n

KPMG wrote to the department on December 19th, saying a revised executive summary \u201cincorporates the feedback we discussed\u201d.<\/p>\n

On Friday, a Department of Enterprise statement said there had been \u201cextensive\u201d debate and analysis \u201con the energy, environmental and infrastructure dimensions of data centres\u201d, but \u201ccomparatively less analysis of their economic contribution\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe purpose of this study was therefore not to provide an overarching assessment of every aspect of data-centre policy, but rather to develop an evidence-based understanding of their economic contribution,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

The statement said \u201cthe request for a stronger narrative in the executive summary reflected a desire to ensure there was a clear line of sight between the evidence presented in the report and the conclusions drawn from that evidence, thereby improving readability and understanding for the reader. It was not an attempt to predetermine or direct the study\u2019s conclusions\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs is standard practice with commissioned research, draft reports were subject to review, challenge and refinement throughout the research process. This is a normal and expected feature of producing rigorous, evidence-based research,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

The department said the published report \u201creflects KPMG\u2019s considered assessment following evidence gathering, stakeholder engagement, expert challenge and quality assurance and should be regarded as the authoritative version of the study\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Department of Enterprise has denied it attempted to \u201cpredetermine or direct\u201d the conclusions of a study on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,5691,38262,116391,61,60,18040,69543,12361,3415],"class_list":["post-586505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-data-centres","tag-department-of-enterprise-trade-and-employment","tag-friends-of-the-earth","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kpmg","tag-lynn-boylan","tag-peter-burke","tag-sinn-fein"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}