Energy Policy
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-18
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Pa Daly (SF), Kerry

The reality is that there are difficulties with our grid, which is very constrained. Investment in the grid must take place, which the Minister of State mentioned in response to the previous question. However, the cost of that should not be borne by ordinary householders but by the State and by larger energy consumers. A big part of the problem is that data centres are taking up almost one third of Ireland's energy. The surge in energy demand from data centres has already led to housing not being delivered. One such example was in Portlaoise, where multiple families were told they could not move into their homes because an energy connection simply was not available. Similarly, investments that were intended for housing have, instead, been diverted to data centres because there is a first-come, first-served approach. That has to change. The energy regulator must be given the power to deal with that and to prioritise major grid infrastructure for major housing developments as opposed to giving all of our extra renewable energy directly to data centres. Will the Government commit today to moving away from the first-come, first-served model for grid connections and ensure that they are prioritised on a need basis?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:29+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-18