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

EirGrid admitted this week that there is a reasonable probability that energy supply will not meet demand this winter. The main reason for that is the proliferation of data centres, consuming 18% of our electricity and projected to consume 30% of our electricity by 2030. This uncontrolled growth is incompatible with the need to reduce carbon emissions to zero to halt climate catastrophe. Rather than tackling the root of the problem by banning the construction of more data centres, EirGrid's solution is to construct a liquefied natural gas, LNG, terminal or multiple LNG terminals. Supposedly this is to serve as a back-up when the insatiable demand of data centres for electricity overwhelms the normal capacity of the grid. The CEO of EirGrid stated on Monday that building an LNG terminal is an urgent matter for the State. Environmental activists in this country have fought against LNG terminals for years. Only last month they celebrated An Bord Pleanála's correct decision to refuse planning permission for a facility in Shannon and hoped that this was the last we would see of this failed approach. However, now it seems the Government is about to exhume that dead horse in the service of the big tech multinationals. Will the Taoiseach confirm or deny that LNG infrastructure is to be endorsed in the forthcoming energy policy?

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