Paul Lawless: Data centres driving up household electricity

Thank you. Tánaiste, today in Ireland a pensioner living alone or a family pays almost two times more in terms of a unit of electricity than a data centre. Despite the fact that many data centres are a part of the wealthiest corporations in the world. And the demand from data centres is actually driving up the cost of electricity as well. And last year, in 2024, data centres consumed 22% of electricity in Ireland. More than every household in urban Ireland. That is an incredible figure, Minister. And a report released today from Friends of the Earth shows that on our current trajectory, data centres will add €1.4 billion to household electricity over the next number of years. That is a hidden data centre tax, Minister. And, you know, every week in my constituency clinic, this is a major issue. Last week, an elderly pensioner came into my clinic and she showed me her electricity bill. And she said, Paul, can this be real? Such was the extortionate level. The cost of electricity is a major issue, Tánaiste, in the cost of living crisis. And the fact is that over 300,000 people are in energy arrears. And these, in many cases, are hard-working people. They're pensioners and they're really, really struggling. And the policy of your government, Tánaiste, has been essentially to offer energy credits before an election. And then after the election, you abandoned it. And then, in relation to data centres, data centres are paying about 50% less a unit. And families can't understand this. And they're really, really frustrated, Tánaiste. And this is by design, in many respects. And the trajectory is going to add more cost to households. So, my question, Tánaiste, when will you introduce legislation to regulate the data sector electricity in terms of pricing? And when are you going to introduce a sustainable policy in relation to this? So, what was definitely not on my bingo card for 2026 was, ain't you quoting Friends of the Earth? But, look, politics throws new things at you every day. The issue of electricity and energy prices in Ireland is a serious one. That's why this government, through Minister Kalleri, is expanding the fuel allowance. It's why we extended it for a further month to help people like those people that you referenced. It's why we've also taken a number of decisions to reduce excise on diesel, on petrol. The benefit of that from an inflationary point of view is also worth about 0.5% in keeping general downward pressure on a rising inflation rate. And it's also why we need to accelerate the move towards renewables. And there's been some constructive suggestions from opposition and government deputies around how we can do more in relation to making it easier for people to make that transition themselves in terms of their home or their business. And Minister O'Brien has already introduced a range of measures that are helping people make their homes warmer. So, you know, hundreds of thousands of homes that have now benefited from direct government grants to retrofit, to replace windows, to replace doors. And, of course, the EV changes as well. I'd be interested in your position on data centres because it's easy to come in and kind of say the data centres are bad or make the data centres the bogeyman. But I am the Minister for Finance in this country. And the evidence available to government is that across the six sectors in Ireland that are identified as being most dependent on data centres, it's estimated that of the order of 100 billion in annual gross value added, 875,000 jobs and 14.6 billion euro in annual employment-related taxes were enabled by data centre capacity located in Ireland. It's also identified that the hyperscale data centres sit at the heart of Ireland's global digital competitiveness. So when I make all these changes that you're calling on me to make in relation to data centres, what do you want to do when we don't have the benefit of the taxes? What do you want to cut? What do you not want to fund? Because it's so easy to come in here and ask us to spend more. It's easy to slice up the pie. It's a hell of a lot harder to bake the pie and bake a bigger pie in terms of economic success for this country. So it's also important to say that data centres, through the CRU large energy user connection policy, we've been very clear that data centres above certain thresholds will be required to meet at least 80% of their annual demand with new additional renewable electricity generated in the Republic of Ireland. And government policy firmly aims to enable the twin transitions of digitalisation and decarbonisation. We can't pick and choose. We've got to address both of them. We're talking about AI. We're talking about how we support AI jobs. We're talking about how we deal with the fact that there's going to be a significant churn in the labour market. And data centres do play a very important role in having a competitive digital economy. And we can't just dismiss that. We can't just ridicule that. Or at least if we're going to, you'd have to be honest with the people about the economic and the tax impacts that that could have on Ireland as well. Because if you put out there that a data centre is about four or five lads sitting around with a dog or something and nothing else in terms of economic activity, that is an economically illiterate point to make in relation to data centres. If you're going to make Ireland the data centre capital of Europe, you better have a plan. A plan does not mean that ordinary households are subsidising that plan. And that is currently what is happening. The report outlined today estimates that in the current trajectory, that Ireland, well, first of all, in terms of data centres, 22%, that is on the rise. And that is driving up the cost of energy in this country. And the truth is that that is going to have estimated about €1.4 billion over the next number of years in terms of additional cost to consumers. And already, Tánaiste, 300,000 people are in energy arrears. And currently, Ireland has the most expensive electricity prices in Europe. And also, Tánaiste, the ESB is profiteering €650 million last year. The CEO of the ESB earned over €300,000. So, you know, who is the ESB serving? Who is the government's energy policy serving at a situation where data centres are driving up the energy cost for families and also paying less in terms of per unit electricity? But you see, you're ignoring the points that I'm making. And it sounds very good in short clips and sound bites, but the reality is you're ignoring the economic benefit of the data centre. You're ignoring the economic benefit in terms... Sorry, you're giving him a chance today, come on. You're giving him a chance today. I didn't think the weekend was that bad for you that you'd had a leadership eve. But anyway, will you give the man a chance? Give the man a chance. Thank you, Alaskan Corda, go raibh maith agat. Go raibh maith agat. Allow the time to speak. You ask the question and I get a chance to answer it. The reality of the situation, for people sitting at home, I want to say this. AIN2, on behalf of Friends of the Earth, are giving a suggestion that data centres are costing all of this money. They're ignoring the fact that I've put on the record of the House of the economic analysis available to me as finance minister in terms of the benefit to this country in terms of taxes and employment. I don't have the luxury and the government doesn't have the luxury to ignore that. If we did ignore it, you'd be the first to come into this house and condemn the loss of jobs and the loss of employment as well. Now, I want to say this, though. The Friends of the Earth report will be considered and it does also say things you didn't mention. It does also concede that under the high renewable growth scenario, we actually see a situation where accelerated renewables is presented as sufficient to display significant reliance on gas. So the message you should have taken from the report is we need to accelerate the move to renewables. That's what this government's committed to and if AIN2 is willing to finally step up and accept that climate action is needed, I welcome that conversion.