Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Social Democrats for tabling this motion. Like most Members in the House, I would agree with each and every one of the concerns its Members have expressed in the motion about data centres, the amount of energy they use, the cost of that energy, the water that is used and the sustainability of it all.

Notwithstanding that, I am quite ambivalent about the motion because I am not, I have to say, convinced by their response. I listened to Deputy Catherine Murphy yesterday talk about what good employers Intel were in Kildare and they are. Of course, they use huge amounts of energy etc. We in Ireland want Facebook, Google and Twitter headquartered here. We want all of these corporations headquartered here generating employment, generating wealth and raising the standard of living throughout the country, but they have one thing in common. Every chip that Intel makes goes into a computer and ultimately the user of that computer is storing data somewhere. Likewise, Facebook is storing vast amounts of data somewhere. Google is using vast amounts of data somewhere. Is it okay for us if the data that is being generated through companies based in Ireland are stored elsewhere? Is the problem that the data are being stored in Ireland or is it the vast amounts of data that are increasingly being used and stored? I have a major concern about the amount of data. I share the Social Democrats' concern about that, unless we tackle it. We are in a position, as a country.

In saying I am ambivalent about the Social Democrats' motion, I am completely underwhelmed by the Government's response. I accept the Government acknowledges the problem but we need to do something about it. What are we going to do? Are these data okay if they are stored in America instead of Ireland? We, at least, have a temperate climate here. My understanding is data centres have to be at a certain temperature throughout the year. If they are in a climate like that in America, it will cost a great deal more to heat them in the winter and to cool them in the summer. I looked at the top ten locations for data centres in the world. They include China, Russia, Japan, Australia and America. The Netherlands and the UK are there too, but the rest of them are not temperate climates. Is it okay we use even more energy across the world storing those data once they are not in Ireland? I am not convinced that is the response. The response has to be a reduction. The problem is not a data centre in Ireland. The problem is the use of data by everybody in Ireland and everybody in the world who are customers of companies based in Ireland regardless of where those data centres are.

Doing nothing is not the solution. I am not suggesting it is and that we do nothing. We have to face up to the problem at an Irish level and at an international level. Is it to be taxed? Are people to be curtailed in the amount of data they use? We can complain about the use of anything, for example, companies that make plastic, but we all use so much plastic. We will have to change how people behave. That is a very difficult thing to do. It is a lot more difficult than introducing a moratorium. I am not saying we should do nothing because what we can do is so insignificant but shifting where the data are stored to somewhere else is not the answer - shifting where that plastic is produced to somewhere else is not the answer - as long as Irish consumers and consumers right across the world continue to use these data and those data are stored somewhere, using vast amounts of energy and perhaps more energy in other places than it does here.

I thank the Social Democrats for raising this very important issue. I regret that I cannot support the motion and I am not in any way impressed by the Government's response.

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