Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I wish to focus on the issue of data centres. I absolutely agree with Deputy O'Sullivan that we cannot continue on the trajectory that we are on in relation to data centre permissions. We need to put mitigation measures in place. That is precisely why the Social Democrats are bringing forward a motion tomorrow calling for a moratorium on the granting of permissions for data centres. We want to give the Government the space to rethink how we plan for data centres. Currently, no information is available in respect of jobs. The Department for Enterprise, Trade and Employment does not collect that information. The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications does not know how many data centres are out there and does not collection that information, including the conditions imposed on them and how much energy they use. There is an obvious information gap in the oversight of the Government in relation to the issue. The moratorium is the best way of addressing that. It will allow for proper planning to take place, and for conditions to be placed on data centres to ensure that mitigation measures are in place.

There is one argument that keeps coming back to me, which I believe Deputy Bruton raised. According to the argument, Ireland is best-placed to have data centres located here, and a moratorium on permissions is very much a type NIMBYism, in that we are not taking responsibility for having data centres located here. What does Dr. Bresnihan think is the fair share when it comes to data centres? Have we hit the tipping point? Is there any other country in the world that has the number of data centres that we have and the resultant energy demand from those data centres? He mentioned the 28% figure, and potential figure of 70% of electricity usage. That is the reality. That is the trajectory we are on through granting those permissions. Is there any other country that has as many data centres as we do?

Another issue that we are facing is the idea that the consumption of data is resource-neutral and there is no impact on resources from it. The reality is that that is not correct. There is water resource usage and energy usage, albeit fossil fuel usage, currently. Even the use of renewable energy will have impact on resources. There could potentially be biodiversity impacts. There are also amenity and construction impacts. How do we move from the current mindset where we hear people say that data are free from constraints and we should be able to use as much as we want? How do we move from that to a place where people acknowledge, and are aware of, the costs of that consumption? Also, do we need to move towards the introduction of a data centre levy? Could that be one of the solutions?