Electricity Regulation (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2026: First Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-16
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Réada Cronin (SF), Kildare North

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle. Over the recess, my office was inundated with appeals from worried constituents about two monstrous data centres in Naas. Not only are these data centres creating nuisance with sound and stature, but they are eating away at critical infrastructure of water and energy. Yet, we are expecting the people of Naas to pay increased energy prices to subsidise these monstrosities. It is clear to people that the Government has placed the development of these data centres above the needs of their families.
Our legislation is simple. It provides the necessary guardrails to ensure that critical infrastructure is prioritised for families and workers. The legislation is consistent with the recommendations of the European Commission, and it provides much-needed security to homes around Ireland that their needs will not come last. We have done more than enough of our fair share for data centres to store the banking, health and other data that businesses need. What we now need in Naas are homes, not more data centres for AI.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-16