Energy Policy: Motion [Private Members] Dail Éireann — 2026-09-17 ============================================================ Ruth Coppinger (PBP), Dublin West -----the purpose of these data centres was mainly for AI, which is not useful to the world or to humanity; in fact, it is very detrimental in many cases. I hope the Minister is starting to reconsider. A lot of young people and a growing body of people are extremely critical of AI. I also want to mention how intersectional an issue this is. It intersects with the environment, military technology, the cost of living, which this motion focuses on, and many other issues. An estimated cumulative average of about €360 in ordinary people's energy bills has been laid at the door of data centres. With households already paying twice as much as a data centre per unit and with the highest electricity prices in the EU, why is the Government so uncaring about the proliferation of data centres? Would the Minister admit that maybe the Government has erred? Ireland is now becoming the bogeyman rather than the poster boy for what other countries should not do. These price rises hit low-income households disproportionately and the Government has taken away the supports. How are people going to cope if that continues to be the Government's stance? Seven electricity suppliers have increased their energy prices over the past few months. The CRU said there will be a €41 increase per month from October, largely laying it at the door of data centre usage. With over 322,000 in electricity arrears, there is a serious problem for many working-class families. The Central Bank also came out with a pressing concern that house building will slow down, another issue I raised previously, because of the lack of available electricity connections due to data centres. A levy on data centres is urgent. It is not like they cannot afford to pay. Microsoft had profits of €47 billion. Is the Minister seriously suggesting it could not pay a levy? It is well able to pay. Further than that, the ESB, which once was a public utility, should be brought back into State ownership and run for profit to get bills down in the first place. Bord Gáis announced it will increase its bills by €140 a year. There is a huge level of gas arrears. In recent days, the regulator admitted that data centres are a threat to the gas grid too and new data centres will be offered lower prices but it may have to cut them off if there is too much demand. There is a proposal for 17 more data centres. They would have the same gas needs as 2.6 million homes. We need to get a grip. There should be a moratorium on data centres. They are now a threat to people's pockets, the environment and our resources, guzzling a quarter of our electricity. It is proposed to take water from the Shannon to Dublin. Most of the data centres are around Dublin, Meath and nearby locations. My constituency, Dublin West, seems to be a hot spot for data centres. There are more than 20 data centres in Dublin 15 and Clonee, which is beside us. According to a report our councillor John Burtchaell put in, the council is not aware of how much energy those centres use. They are not required to indicate that on planning applications. It just seems to be a let-it-rip approach. Another data centre has been approved for Clonee. These centres are overwhelmingly located in areas of deprivation. That has been pointed out by the Think-tank for Action on Social Change. It is interesting - and I hope this will spread to Ireland - that there has been a movement against data centres in the USA. Even the Republican Party is having to make talking points out of data centres because of the impact they are having in the context of drought. This is combined with the heatwaves we have been having. In Monterey Park in California, for example, there was an organised response to a new data centre coming to the town. It was a huge issue at the city council. In Naas, 300 people turned out at a public meeting to discuss this matter. Therefore, consciousness of these data has been raised in Irish society centres, particularly over the summer when we could not water our plants because data centres were using so much water. People are aware that there is a real problem with these issues. It is not just an environmental issue; it is a democratic issue as well because it seems the big tech companies - the tech bro billionaires - are dictating, and they are completely unaccountable. For example, thejournal.ie had a report that roughly half of these centres did not even have to give details of the resources they are using. This motion should be supported by the Minister. We could eliminate the arrears of the more than 300,000 households and take the dread and stress off many people. How can the Minister continue to allow the electricity companies to increase their profits? ESB Group just made a 20% increase in its profits. Airtricity also hugely increased its profits. The data centres are guzzling almost a quarter of our electricity. They are also guzzling our water. To sit idly by while people go into debt is absolutely unforgivable. These multinational companies should be taxed more broadly. We cannot continue to pretend that we can have public services such as a State childcare system, healthcare and so on without taxing wealth. We cannot continue to allow these companies to pay low tax or no tax. --- 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/2026-09-17/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-17