Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

103. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he is aware of recent concerns expressed by officials in his Department that policy choices would need to be made between data centre expansion for AI and housing delivery; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30272/25]

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Regarding officials in his Department expressing concerns that policy choices will have to be made between data centre expansion for AI and housing delivery and the priorities relating to same, will the Minister make a statement?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The programme for Government outlines the policy position regarding energy policy, housing policy, foreign direct investment growth and the many other goals and objectives of this Government. It reflects the balance between the many opportunities and challenges facing the country and the actions that will be taken over the lifetime of this Government. It recognises that increased and unprecedented investment and delivery in our grid and expanding our energy generation capacity is critical. While in the near term, already-contracted data centres will be accommodated on the grid for the medium term, the Government has committed to developing a plan that will guide the development of plan-led data centre and larger energy user infrastructure in alignment with our decarbonisation objectives and growing Ireland's knowledge-based economy and that will provide certainty for the sector over the medium term.

Moreover, the electricity system operators, namely EirGrid and ESB Networks, assess the various expected future demands on the system, including in the context of economic and population growth, housing and targets relating to electric vehicles and heat pumps, as part of their network development plans. These plans will form a vital input into system operators' submission to the price review process, which sets out the level of investment required over the next five years. That is price review, PR, 6, which we have already discussed here. The CRU is currently reviewing the proposals from ESB Networks and EirGrid in terms of their investment requirements. The submissions made to the CRU propose a significant uplift to the investment required in terms of distribution and transmission to support the requirements of a growing population and economy. The exact level of this will be part of the CRU's final determination later this year. The programme for Government seeks to address the challenges of balancing energy needs by committing to scaling up investment in critical infrastructure and our electricity grid, which will be advantageous for customers and enhance the data centre and digital economy footprint to support continued foreign direct investment, FDI.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Anybody who was in the House for any period earlier today will realise the priority and urgency afforded to the housing crisis. There are 15,580 people homeless. Then there is the rest, which Minister would have heard about, such as the average cost of rent being above €2,000. There is a housing emergency but instead of prioritising homes, this Government and those that preceded it have been reckless when it comes data centres. Instead of an approach that balances the energy demand from centres alongside that of other users, there is an absence of a plan. This Government is allowing the limited space on our grid to be gobbled up by data centres. The Minister's officials, including the Secretary General of the Department, have stated that policy choices need to be made between further data centre expansion and increasing housing supply. Why has the Government been blasé about these warnings? The reality is that successive Governments have failed to plan. The reason we cannot connect homes and data centres is straightforward; there is not enough capacity on the grid. What measures is the Minister taking to ensure that data centres do not gobble up all the new capacity? Will he review and reform the first-come first-served policy and mandate the CRU, which has commented on this issue, to prioritise new connections?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I am sure the Deputy and his party have interacted in respect of the CRU's draft statement on large energy users. There is a strategy being brought forward that is plan led rather than developer led, and that is critically important. There is no question that the number one priority for this Government is housing and continuing to increase of housing delivery. We also have to invest in our grid. It is housing, the grid and water. Three critical things we need to do over the next five years is improve our infrastructure in order to support housing delivery and FDI development. We also need to ensure that we continue to be at the cutting edge of new technologies. There is a view among some people that all data centres are bad and are not required at all in this country. Some of the largest employers and FDI investors in this country also hold their data here. It is not a question of one or the other. Unquestionably, our priority is housing. The Deputy will see from PR6 later this year the level of investment that will be in our grid for the next five years. It will be multiples of PR5, and the national development plan will further support increased investment in housing and our grid.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Does the Minister have a view on what the CRU said about mandating data centres to have a supply of electricity for themselves? Access to public infrastructure and our natural resources has been prioritised for data centres. However, the energy regulator in the Netherlands has the power to prioritise projects that identify social goals which can be prioritised for connection to the energy grid. That does not seem to be the case here. Does the Minister have an opinion on that? He must examine these measures and their applicability here. Ordinary workers and farmers cannot continue to shoulder a disproportionate burden by paying for the grid through network charges - we spoke earlier about the unfairness of how these are distributed - when data centres are being given the green light to gobble up all the new capacity that has become available in recent years. In other jurisdictions, these centres pay a larger amount towards essential infrastructure. The exact same should happen here. If the Government is serious about prioritising the construction of new housing, it must follow this path.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

In the context of PR6 and the previous review, it is not a question that it is data centres first at all. PR6 takes into account Government targets and includes the connection of up to 50,000 new homes per year, up to 1 million electric vehicles and currently contracted data centre demand, which means currently contracted data centres - no new ones - and those with contracted connection agreements. There is no question of data centres or other large users gobbling up, as the Deputy says, energy instead of housing being built. That is not happening, and that will not happen under PR 6. When the CRU published the draft plan on large energy users, there was significant stakeholder engagement. The strategy into the future will be very much a plan-led approach to connection and a medium-term outlook. The focus must be and is on housing, but in parallel with that is grid investment. We will see grid investment over the course of the term of this Government like we have never seen before in order to allow us to distribute the additional energy we are creating through renewables right across our network in order that we can power more homes and more businesses throughout the country.