The Government cannot continue to ignore repeated warnings about the heavy demand that data centres are placing on Ireland\u2019s energy systems, according to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore.<\/p>\n
Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on energy, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cA UN report on the environmental impact of artificial intelligence has described Ireland as a live cautionary example of energy demand running ahead of infrastructure, with data centres using the same amount of electricity (21 per cent) as all urban households combined.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs data centres expand to facilitate AI growth, this figure is expected to increase to 30 per cent in the coming years.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust last week, a study commissioned by Friends of the Earth Ireland and Beyond Fossil Fuels found that an estimated cumulative average of \u20ac360 has been added to household electricity bills in recent years due to high data centre energy demand.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsumers are paying a heavy price for the Government\u2019s failure to stem the proliferation of data centres. It is crucial that when decisions are being made about data centres, we know how many we can afford from a climate perspective, from an energy security perspective and from an energy pricing perspective.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlanning permission for data centres should only be granted if they are efficient; can work in a complex electrical environment; can act as storage; and can function as part of an overall system.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis latest report from the UN is further proof of the need for a moratorium on data centres until a full analysis of their impact on our energy supply, the environment and consumers\u2019 electricity bills is carried out by the Government.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt also highlights why the Government needs to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels by adopting the Social Democrats\u2019 \u2018Solar for All\u2019 plan \u2013 a proposal that includes a doubling of grants for solar installation to \u20ac3,600; the inclusion of solar panels in the \u2018Warmer Homes Scheme\u2019 to help families cut electricity costs by an average of \u20ac450 a year; and the rollout of new technology for plug-in solar.\u201d<\/p>\n
June 4, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Government cannot continue to ignore repeated warnings about the heavy demand that data centres are placing on Ireland\u2019s energy systems, according to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore. Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on energy, said: \u201cA UN report on the environmental impact of artificial intelligence has described Ireland as a live cautionary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11228,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[593,676,539,268,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai","category-data-centres","category-energy","category-jennifer-whitmore","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n