Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment

1. All correspondence — including emails, letters, memoranda, minutes of meetings, and any other written communications — between the Department (including any of its divisions or officials acting in their official capacity) and the European Commission (or any of its services, including DG Energy) concerning the implementation of Article 12 of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EU) 2023/1791 and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1364, in particular regarding data centre reporting obligations, the confidentiality of reported data, and the public disclosure of data centre energy performance information. Time period: 1 January 2023 to present. 2. All data centre energy performance reports submitted to the Department or through the Department to the European database pursuant to Article 12 EED, or any summaries, compilations, or analyses of such reports held by the Department. 3. Any internal guidance, policy documents, or legal assessments produced by or for the Department regarding the interpretation of the trade secrets and confidentiality exemptions under Article 12(1) EED and Article 5 of the Delegated Regulation, as applied to data centre reporting in Ireland. 4. Any correspondence between the Department and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) or the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) regarding the implementation of Article 12 EED and the handling of data centre energy performance data. Request amended on 02/04/2026 Please take the scope of this part of the request to cover correspondence with the European Commission in relation to the implementation of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1364, in particular regarding data centre reporting obligations, the confidentiality of reported data, and the public disclosure of data centre energy performance information, for the period from 6 June 2024 to the present. Regarding point 2, I note your clarification that data centre operators report directly into the European database and that no reports are held by the Department in that form. However, as you note yourself, Member States have access pursuant to Article 5(3) of the Delegated Regulation to all information communicated to the European database by data centres in their territory. On that basis, I would like to amend this part of my request as follows: I request that the Department retrieve and provide to me the data reported to the European database by individual data centres located in Ireland, as accessible to the Department under Article 5(3). I would note that Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1364 is a delegated act adopted under Article 290 TFEU. Article 5(5) of that Regulation cannot override the rights of access to environmental information established under Directive 2003/4/EC, as transposed into Irish law by the European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) Regulations 2007–2018. A blanket policy of confidentiality applied to all data points, without individual assessment, is not consistent with these obligations. Should the Department consider that specific data points are exempt from disclosure, I would ask that a justification be provided in each individual case, specifying which exemption applies and why. Regarding point 3, I am glad this can be searched for and look forward to the results. Regarding point 4, I am happy to withdraw this part of the request.