Bríd Smith warns on data centres and rushed amendments to bill
Bríd Smith spoke in a parliamentary debate on the Circular Economy Bill, condemning last-minute amendments and procedural shortcuts. She argued the bill had been altered in ways that bypassed scrutiny and warned the changes could have lasting effects on rights, emissions and energy policy.
Legislative process concerns
Bríd Smith said last-minute changes were "shoehorned in" at committee and report stages in the Seannad and accused the government of attempting to bypass the Dáil and evade scrutiny. She highlighted that two substantial amendments from the government to different acts were returned from the Seannad with virtually no time for examination and only 30 minutes available for discussion.
Scope of the Circular Economy Bill
She said the bill as presented had very little to do with the circular economy and noted that much of its content focused on other matters, including changes to CCTV law. While she acknowledged some constructive second-stage and committee-stage exchanges, she argued many important sections that needed urgent attention were not addressed.
EPA and electricity generation amendments
Bríd Smith drew attention to substantial amendments affecting the Environmental Protection Agency and the electricity generations act. She said the changes appeared tied to an urgent plan to purchase electricity generation capacity to head off power cuts in 2023-24, but warned the amendments had been rushed and unexplained.
Data centres and the energy crisis
She argued the energy panic was rooted in government policy allowing the proliferation of data centres, not in electrification of transport. Citing warnings from "crew and from airgrid," she said data centre growth was driving unforeseen electricity demand and that an effective moratorium had only limited impact because up to eight massive centres already had approval and will be connected in coming years.
Emissions and emergency generation concerns
Bríd Smith criticised the prospect of purchasing gas-fired emergency generators and said their deployment could be used to justify LNG terminals. She warned such moves would harm emissions targets and undermine commitments under the climate act and the Paris treaty, and expressed doubt that hurried EPA licensing changes would avoid unintended consequences.
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Goeibhagad Láskiaan Córle and Minister for your introduction. Look I want to repeat the same thing that I've heard said many times this week by quite a number of TDs and opposition deputies and that is that's what is happening here in terms of legislation and last minute changes shoehorned in to committee and report staging the Seannad is deeply disturbing and I think really an attempt by government to bypass the Dáil and bypass any scrutiny of contentious and often complex legislation moreover in many cases this week it is legislation that has the potential to have profound effects on the lives and rights of many people for years to come formally in terms of this bill the circular economy bill I have to acknowledge that we did have a good second stage debate and committee stage discussions and that the minister did in fact take on board some of the suggestions of the opposition in some areas not I have to say in many of the more important sections of the bill and areas that we felt urgently needed attention my problem from the outset with this bill is that it had very little to actually do with the circular economy much of it was taken up with changing the law around the usage of CCTV for example but now I find that while the Dáil select committee spent hours looking over the provisions of the bill such as they were we now have before us a different animal entirely with two substantial amendments from the government to two completely different acts coming back from the Seannad there are substantial amendments here to the environmental protection agency and the electricity generations act and it may well be minister that you will say that these are vitally important and necessary and good amendments it's hard to know for us to know that considering we've had absolutely no time to consider examine or question you the minister and them and now we have 30 minutes to discuss them and I don't want to gobble up all that time from other deputies but I do want to say for a government that loves to lecture the opposition on shoddy legislation and unintended consequences of poorly drafted bills you have taken some liberties this week with the entire legislative protests in relation to the changes of the EPA the EPA pardon me and the issuing of licenses yet again a substantial change to existing laws proposed because of the urgency and the need to speed through the emergency purchase of electricity generation to head off power cuts in 2023-24 and again I will repeat I say this entire crisis despite repeated denials from your party and from the government ministers this entire crisis and the panic is rooted in the insane policy of this and other governments in relation to the proliferation of data centres and I know for sure that in the end we will be proven right on this you can deny it as much as you wish there are clear warnings from crew and from airgrid that it is data centre proliferation that is driving up the unheard unforeseen demand of electricity not the electrification of transport or other areas and none of this is a natural by-product it's the policy of the government that are responsible for this while decrying attempts to ban or place a moratorium data centres the ministers are now saying oh we effectively have a moratorium to cruise instructions to airgrid where we have a delay for new applications but we know that up to eight massive centres have approval and will be connected in the short coming years and therein lies the panic and the observation of the green party ministers justifying the purchase of what will be gas fired emergency generators and when these arrive the very fact of their existence and the need for them will be further used to justify building and support for the siting of lng terminals here all of these needless to say will impact on our emissions targets and on any hopes of cutting co2 in the coming years to the level required by the climate act or indeed by the paris treaty so i don't know frankly if the changes to the epa process of issuing these licenses is a simple thing or a good thing i don't know if it's just a box ticking exercises with no unintended consequences down the road but i do know that we are being bounced into this because of a panic caused by a policy to allow data center by expansion and that i have no doubt will come back to haunt us
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