Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)

There is a real concern that we will be simply unable to meet our targets. Figures from the CSO, published last week, show 22% of Ireland's electricity in 2024 was consumed by data centres and that demand had increased by 10% in one year. We recently saw the Secretary General of the Department of the environment raising concerns about the potential conflict between expanding data centres and meeting housing needs, particularly due to climate targets and energy demands. It seems that Ireland must now import significant amounts of electricity to power these data centres. The demand from data centres is driving increased natural gas usage in Ireland and soaking up any additional renewable energy as it comes online.

How do we square the circle? Everyone accepts that we must ensure the retention of jobs and that we have become a digital leader, but how can we sustain this level of growth? Is it credible for Ireland to keep allowing so many data centres to locate here? We, and others, have called for moratoriums until we can see how to square the circle.

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