Electricity Grid
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-24
============================================================

Darragh O'Brien (FF), Dublin Fingal East

The large energy user policy is really clear when it comes to the future growth of large energy users such as data centres. They will have to bring forward 80% of that energy as new renewable energy. We are the first country to do this. It will not be a drain on our existing resources. It will be about providing additional renewable resources.
I have been clear with regard to private wires. Private wires should be and are a positive thing. They will unlock a lot of opportunities and investment. They will ensure the delivery of additional networks across our country that will be up to the same standard as our own grid. As already stated, the private wires entities will pay the full cost of the services that they seek from or that are provided to them by the national electricity grid.
In relation to PR6, which is the biggest investment that we have ever made in our grid, we are looking at, on average, about €18 per annum of an additional charge per household. That is about €1.50 per month. The North-South interconnector alone will deliver savings to households of over €100 per annum. That is why it is critical that projects of this sort are delivered. The cost to which I refer will be well offset by savings.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-24/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:40+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-24