Natasha Newsome Drennan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)

I support the intent of this Bill but it cannot be pushed through without the necessary safeguards. People in counties Kilkenny and Carlow are paying a heavy price for the consecutive failures of the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, and his colleagues to invest in our energy infrastructure. It is an issue my constituents continually contact me about. There is a question I would love to see answered. Is your top priority for energy residential housing or is it data centres? Which of these is at the top of the Minister's priorities? We all know it cannot be both. When I see the waves the Government has made to support the building of more and more data centres, putting immense pressure on our national grid, it makes me wonder.

I find it staggering that a single data centre can use as much energy as the whole of Kilkenny city. There are now nearly 100 data centres across the State. The Government's own experts have warned it about the risk this poses to building the homes we desperately need. We are now seeing that families across Ireland cannot move into new homes because they cannot get connected. I find it astounding that in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, data centres are set to see their energy bills drop by 18%, while families and workers across Ireland are facing the most expensive winter they have ever seen for energy bills.

I accept that many data centres are providing vital data storage, but a line must be drawn. Data centres storing unnecessary data about what type of advertisements to hit us with do not contribute positively to our society. It is the people of Ireland, not data centres, who contribute positively to our society. It is the people of Ireland, not data centres, who need to see their energy bills drop. The public cannot be expected to foot the bill for the data centres. It is simply not right and it is deeply unfair.

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