Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I want to return to the question of data centres and the threat posed by power cuts to thousands of households, including some of the most vulnerable people in the country, this coming winter and beyond. Those affected face losing their heating on freezing cold nights. As warned by Professor John FitzGerald, who heads up the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, there is potential for hypothermia among old people. This is not just to do with the limitation on energy; it has very much to do with the increased cost of electricity and the rising price of carbon.

To go back to the issue of the data centres, because it is very much connected to the overall problem we are having, I will relay some of the facts again. I am aware that Members were all listening to the debate this morning but I was not. There are currently 70 data centres operating in Ireland, which represents a 25% increase by comparison with 2020. Dublin has the largest number of data centres and has now become the hub for them in Europe. This represents an annual increase in demand of around 600 GW, the equivalent of 140,000 households per year being added to the grid. Would that it were 140,000 new homes per year; that would be marvellous. It is not a matter of new homes, however; it is a matter of data centres. Over 2020, we saw a 27% increase in gas demand from the data centres.

Let me quote some very representative bodies that look after our energy. EirGrid has stated:

The rate at which data centres are seeking to grow their load is unprecedented. Over the last 4 years we have seen annual increases in demand usage of around 600 GWh [...] – equivalent to the addition of 140,000 households ...

According to EirGrid, the key demand is data centres, and the median demand predicts data centres accounting for 25% of all demand by 2030. The CRU has said that the types of projections EirGrid has given it indicate that electricity demand is to rise by between one third and 50% by 2030, primarily driven by the data centres. The centres are the primary driver and their impact is really exceptional. MaREI, the research institute, has stated that if data centres currently requesting connection are facilitated, Ireland's legal 2030 target of reducing economy-wide emissions by 51% would become effectively impossible to meet. Which is it: data centres or providing people with energy to heat their homes? Are we going to focus on data centres or reaching our climate targets?

Professor FitzGerald of the ESRI states the cost of interruptions to electricity supply in a modern society are huge – we all know that – but also states that if there is a significant interruption, the blackouts, if they occur, will have a much greater impact on households than on businesses. I put it to the Taoiseach that, in a context in which households are facing ever-increasing energy bills and carbon taxes, the continued granting of planning permission to energy-intensive data centres is being perceived as an unfair distribution of the costs and benefits. Not only is the Taoiseach failing on his climate targets and on giving people energy but he is also failing on just transition, which is supposed to be the key and cornerstone of everything his partners in government stand for. Which is it: data centres or heat, or data centres or climate targets?

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