Ged Nash: Stop Data Centres Until Grid and Bills Improve
Ged Nash urges an immediate pause on new data centre developments until Ireland's electricity grid is upgraded and household bills fall. He argues the Government's approach risks rising energy costs, grid instability and unjust impacts on lower-income households.
Main argument: Ged Nash tells the Dail that unchecked growth of data centres already consumes over 22% of electricity and could exceed 30% by 2030. He warns this trend will push up bills, erode grid resilience and produce few long-term jobs relative to land and energy use.
Energy and policy context: Nash links high Irish electricity prices and the proliferation of data centre permissions, citing Friends of the Earth research that estimates households paid an extra
C715 million from 2015 to 2023 because of data centres. He frames current policy as effectively subsidising those facilities through higher household bills and past taxpayer-funded energy supports.
Proposals and consequences: The Labour TD calls for targeted energy credits and SEAI supports in Budget 2027 and for the Government to focus on offshore wind and grid resilience rather than accelerating data centre permissioning. He also opposes provisions in the Critical Infrastructure Bill that disapply section 15 of the Climate Act as constitutionally dubious.
Political challenge: Nash criticises the Government's counter-motion as politically weak and accuses ministers of putting the cart before the horse. He urges a change of course as the Critical Infrastructure Bill concludes in the Seanad, saying it is not too late for the Government to act.
Main argument: Ged Nash tells the Dail that unchecked growth of data centres already consumes over 22% of electricity and could exceed 30% by 2030. He warns this trend will push up bills, erode grid resilience and produce few long-term jobs relative to land and energy use.
Energy and policy context: Nash links high Irish electricity prices and the proliferation of data centre permissions, citing Friends of the Earth research that estimates households paid an extra
C715 million from 2015 to 2023 because of data centres. He frames current policy as effectively subsidising those facilities through higher household bills and past taxpayer-funded energy supports.
Proposals and consequences: The Labour TD calls for targeted energy credits and SEAI supports in Budget 2027 and for the Government to focus on offshore wind and grid resilience rather than accelerating data centre permissioning. He also opposes provisions in the Critical Infrastructure Bill that disapply section 15 of the Climate Act as constitutionally dubious.
Political challenge: Nash criticises the Government's counter-motion as politically weak and accuses ministers of putting the cart before the horse. He urges a change of course as the Critical Infrastructure Bill concludes in the Seanad, saying it is not too late for the Government to act.
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Transcript
Chair, the Government's counter-motion is, as my colleague Deputy Smith has said, embarrassing and shameful. Really it is a comical alley type approach to politics and I think does good government and the idea of good government a disservice. Frankly, we need to put the brakes on the development of data centres, at least until our grid capacity increases and household bills come down. If this Government put more energy, pun intended, into developing our offshore wind capacity, rather than developing more data centres, we might build the kind of resilience we need in our grid for industry and domestic customers to avail of plentiful and cheap energy. But as usual, the Government is pulling the cart before the horse and is left wondering why the cart isn't pulling. Now the Government has made and will make today all kinds of arguments to say, tin arguments, to say that we are wrong. They'll argue that data centres create jobs and the reality is that they take up massive acreage and resources and create only a small, comparatively small handful of long-term jobs. As the motion lays out, over 22% of electricity is already being used up by data centres and by 2030 that will be over 30% and at the current rate of growth it won't be long before over half of our electricity is being eaten up by this one source. Now we know, as colleagues have said, Ireland has the highest electricity prices in the EU and the fact that we are also the European leader in data centre permissions is no accident and this Government needs to join the dots. There's a direct link between the proliferation of data centres in the country and ever-rising energy bills. Research by Friends of the Earth shows that Irish households paid an estimated €715 million more in electricity bills from 2015 to 2023 directly due to data centres. That's an equivalent, Minister, of some €360 per household. So in effect, in Ireland, under your Government, each bill payer is charged a data centre tax. The same research shows that Irish households face a further €1.43 billion in rising bills up to 2034 because of the projected growth in data centres and that will mean an extra €644 per household on household bills. Now these are the same bills that the Government used taxpayers' money for to help pay for, you know, through energy credits in recent years. So think about that for a minute. More effective taxpayer subsidies for data centres, in effect. Now these increases that I've referred to will disproportionately impact on lower-income households and that's why we are also calling this motion for targeted energy credits and SEAI supports for households in Budget 2027. I want to add, Minister, that the motion also makes clear Labour's opposition to the decision made in the Critical Infrastructure Bill to disapply section 15 of the Climate Act. This is constitutionally dubious and is wide open to challenge. And this Bill is concluding the Seana this week and it's not too late for the Government to change course.