Dáil debates

Wednesday, 29 June 2022

EirGrid, Electricity and Turf (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages

 

4:17 pm

Photo of Jennifer WhitmoreJennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I cannot find the detail now but the CRU has stated that the 400 MW will result in a €40 domestic charge. I will find that specific reference and relay it to the Minister.

The Minister stated it is true that large companies will wish to have their data centres close to where they have a density of staff located. It is also true that data centres see us as a soft touch and have done so for years. This Government has rolled out the red carpet. Essentially, it has told the companies to come in and they will get their planning and electricity connections here, while we will not ask them to do anything or charge them any additional money for their power.

We will not even ask them to put in any energy efficiency measures. All of this is voluntary and, therefore, this country is seen as a soft touch. What I find most frustrating about this whole debate is that for some reason when we enter negotiations with large corporations, we do not stand up for ourselves or our country. We do not make them pay their full share or carry the load they should carry. It is absolutely the case with data centres.

The Minister referred to district heating. I am not sure if he has had a conversation with a data centre operators about district heating but I have and they told me that it is highly unlikely that any data centres will enter district heating schemes because it is very expensive, particularly when the surrounding homes have to be retrofitted. It is not as simple as connecting to a pipe system that will ensure all the neighbouring houses can participate and benefit from the heat generated. Data centres will not do it and they certainly will not if we do not condition them from the very start and we were to put them on a greenfield site and develop them as part of a larger development that included housing, but I do not see that happening. Perhaps the Minister should take a look at the opportunities, or lack thereof, presented by district heating because I would hate for that to form a large part of his thoughts when it comes to data centres playing their part.

The Minister also spoke about how climate targets are set and how we will all have to operate around them. That is true, but when it comes to the burden of meeting climate targets, it is placed on individuals and not on large corporations. We are in a situation where we expect 1 million new electric vehicles to be bought to ease the burden of fossil fuel usage. Electric vehicles are very expensive and will be out of reach for the majority of people in this country, yet they will play a huge part in how we meet out targets.

I am aware the Minister has included retrofitting measures for people on social welfare, but if a person is on social welfare, and not on the lower income bands, it will nearly be impossible for ordinary people to afford to retrofit their home even with the proposed low-interest loan. People are struggling to put food on the table for their children. They cannot afford to take out a loan for €15,000 or €20,000. Yet again, that is a huge part of how this country will meet its targets. We are going to put the burden on individual homeowners to play their part. At the same time, we are asking individual homeowners to do their bit and play their part, and telling them that it will cost them money to do so, we are saying to data centres that they can use as much energy as they want. They can use as much energy as every home in rural Ireland and we will not even charge them for it. In fact, we are not charging them; we are charging those individual homeowners. That is where the difficulty is. The Minister is focusing his demands on individuals and homeowners and he is not asking the large corporations to play their part. I understand that some of the data centres made a proposal that they would be charged extra for their energy demand and they were not taken up on it.

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