Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

Last week, EirGrid forecast yet again that data centres are on track to use almost 30% of our electricity by 2031. It is a completely unsustainable approach which makes reaching our climate targets even harder. Now, to add insult industry, the Minister for Finance has confirmed to me that data centres will be eligible to receive €10,000 a month each from the public purse because of the temporary business energy support, TBES, scheme. Does the Minister not agree it is utterly obscene that those who are suffering from energy poverty will be paying to subsidise the electricity usage of some of the biggest corporations on the planet? Does he agree that the scheme must be amended immediately in order to exclude data centres from it?

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