Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We are having this discussion in the context of a broader discussion on fuel poverty. I heard one of the Minister's colleagues, a junior Minister, last night, on a show I do not often watch, advise people who cannot afford to heat or light their homes that they can access an exceptional needs payment. Heating your house is not an exceptional need. It should be a basic right. If that is the advice coming from the Government, we will do nothing to control the cost of energy. If people find themselves this winter in a situation where they cannot heat their homes, and they will, the best advice the Government is giving them is to apply for an exceptional needs payment. To say that is not good enough is an understatement. When people say the Minister and his Government are out of touch, this is what they mean. Heating your home should be a basic right, not an exceptional need. The Minister should have a word with those with whom he shares government because if that is the best advice they have, it is incredibly disappointing but not surprising.

11 o’clock

I want to thank Deputies for bringing forward this motion today. We have a simple problem - there are too many data centres. They are a drain on our national energy grid and water infrastructure. The nature of the development and servicing of them is unsustainable. The companies to whom the data centres belong know they are a problem. They are on the offensive. They are out lobbying and advertising all over the place. They are telling us all about the benefits. One cannot listen to a podcast without being told about the benefits of data centres. That advertising and lobbying is working. It is getting to the Minister and Government. They are very aware of and are listening to this message.

The situation is unsustainable for energy and water. It cannot continue, yet the Government is quite happy to see that it does. Data centres are energy-hungry and resource-hungry projects. They require the same amount of energy as a large town. As has been alluded to already, Dr. Patrick Bresnihan from NUI Maynooth told us that in terms of environment and climate change while data centres currently represent 11% of energy use that will rise to 30%. The Minister and the Government seem prepared to do nothing about it. That is a shame.

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