Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that there will be no moratorium on the construction of new data centres in Ireland.

This comes despite concerns from EirGrid about the effect of data centres on county’s energy grid, with the power operator previously halting plans for a number of potential data centre sites.

As reported by the Irish Independent, during a state visit to Japan and Singapore, Martin said that there “can’t be a moratorium” on data centres, and warned against turning tech companies into “bogeymen”.

“In a digitalised world, data centres are now part of the package,” he said.

“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.”

This follows previous concerns raised about the effect of data centres on county’s energy grid, with EirGrid previously halting plans for a number of potential data centre sites.