Ireland’s Data Centre Crisis: Who’s Really in Control?

Recent news coverage of data centres and what action you can take.

Since the start of the new Dáil, we have seen Government Ministers lining up to defend the interests of the Data Centre industry.  They tell us we’re at risk from missing out on the AI boom, we need to “step up”, that opposition to data centres is short-sighted. Micheál Martin used his last night of the Patrick’s Day visit to Washington to decry that data centres are being “demonised”. 

If you were to take all of these comments at face value you might be led to thinking that the data centre industry in Ireland is doing badly. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Data Centres are soaking up 20% of Ireland’s national electricity, a staggering amount when you consider the EU average is 3%. The Data Centre industry is the single largest driver of electricity demand in the country, increasing their electricity demand by over 400% in 10 years. They have raked in massive investment from global hedge funds, and are now positioning themselves to become suppliers of gas to Irish households. They enjoy an almost unprecedented level of access and influence to TD’s and policy makers, and have advocates like the U.S. ambassador to help them get their way. 

In fact, they enjoy so much influence that at a recent webinar hosted by Data Centre lobby group Digital Infrastructure Ireland, one speaker commented that the industry would never have a better opportunity than it has now under this Dáil. The speaker continued by discussing Government ministers who were favorable to them, including “a body within the Department of the Taoiseach” who were working hard to speed things up for them. 

We’ve heard a lot from the Government about how hard they are fighting to let the industry do more or less whatever it wants. But we hear a lot less about the profound environmental and social impacts that this produces. 

Facebook Clonee data centre from the air (Thomas Nugent)

Just days before Martin made his comments about demon data centres, An Bord Pleanála refused permission for an “islanded” gas powered data centre in Clondalkin. The data centre, proposed by developer Equinix, had been denied an electricity grid connection by ESB due to the massive strain on the grid in Dublin, so were now trying to plug directly into the gas network. There are 7 data centres plugged directly into the gas network in the Republic of Ireland, with 4 more awaiting gas connections, and 22 formal enquiries from data centres looking to obtain a network connection. 

The implications of this are huge.

The theoretical annual maximum demand from all data centres who either have a gas network connection agreement, or who have made a formal enquiry…is 100 TWh, which is around double Ireland’s annual total primary natural gas demand…counting the additional emissions arising from natural gas from new industrial and commercial loads - data centres with connections to the gas network – the sector will exceed its Sectoral Emissions Ceiling by a minimum of 2.6 MtCO2 (Gas Networks Ireland’s “Low” scenario), and up to 3.6 MtCO2 (the “High” scenario)
- Professor Hannah Daly

This additional demand is equivalent to the emissions of running 9 gas plants for a year. 

Meanwhile, on the electricity side of things, 50% of the electricity produced in the Dublin and Meath area is consumed by data centres. This doesn’t leave much room for other industries, but it becomes especially stark when we consider the increase in housing needed to end the chronic accommodation crisis, as well as the mass electrification needed to reduce pollution from our transport system, our home heating systems, and so on.

In its Programme for Government, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Regional Independents have committed to enhancing the use of renewables by Data Centres, but the lack of limits placed on the energy use of these companies makes this, at present, nothing more than a pipe dream. In fact all of the wind energy produced in Ireland since 2015 has been outpaced by the growth of data centres. 

So why is the Government not placing restrictions on these companies? How essential is all the data they store? Do the hyperscalers like Amazon and Meta need to collect so much information on internet users? How is the Government making sure that the solar panels and wind turbines across the country are benefitting the workers who build them and the people living in the regions around them? How are they making sure that the pressure that data centres are putting on our energy grid is not forcing people into debt through ever rising energy bills? 

These are the questions we need you to start asking your TD’s. Big Tech companies like Amazon and Meta have huge resources, time and money to influence TD’s who should be representing us. It’s time they heard less from the corporate lobbyists and more from ordinary people across Ireland.

As a start, take our e-action to let the Ministers who have huge power over this issue know that you support a moratorium on data centres. And spread the word! 

Take our Data Centre e-action