Energy Policy: Motion [Private Members] Dail Éireann — 2026-09-17 ============================================================ Réada Cronin (SF), Kildare North I welcome the opportunity to speak in favour of this motion. Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil le PBP as ucht an rúin seo. This is a critical motion because Irish households are paying roughly twice as much for electricity as data centres. Ordinary workers, families and pensioners are paying significantly more for their electricity than these large energy users. It is grossly unfair. It is the direct consequence of the Government's reckless failure to plan. At a time when ordinary people are being squeezed from every direction, Government policy has prioritised the interests of ever increasingly monstrous data centres over the interests of households, communities and families. For years, Ministers have ignored Sinn Féin's repeated warnings about the impact that unchecked data centre expansion would have on our electricity grid. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael ignored warnings about pressure on grid capacity, despite data centre demand having exploded by over 400% over the last ten years. They ignored warnings about the fact that data centres are preventing houses from being built. Just yesterday, the Central Bank report detailed that a lack of access to the grid is one of the key reasons why housing is not being provided. While Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael fight for this status quo , Sinn Féin is absolutely clear that data centres must pay their fair share. In my constituency of Kildare North, the building of the Herbata data centre has been a source of massive anxiety for my constituents. Nearby, Jigginstown in Naas has been rezoned for another data centre and this has also caused massive concern. I attended that meeting in Naas, which was attended by several hundred people. It really has ignited people. This new site is twice the size of the Herbata complex, with its borders a mere 130 m away from homes and schools in the area. Having attended that meeting two weeks ago, it is clear there are serious concerns and the Government has to address them. We have seen the reports from Clondalkin on the impact on locals from noise but a hyper data centre right beside Herbata could cause havoc for residents in Naas and Kildare. Ireland has done more than its fair share in respect of data centres. This summer, the United Nations cited Ireland as a cautionary tale on the environmental impact of runaway artificial intelligence growth and data centre demand. We already have enough data centres to store the important data we need on health and banking, etc. and we have certainly done our bit. This is not a Luddite reaction to technology and innovation. This explosion in data centre demand is all around AI. When the CEOs of these companies are urging caution, surely legislators should listen. I absolutely believe a lot of this is hype and I suspect there could be bit of corporate capture involved in it but we have to take a pause and listen to these people when they are urging caution. Why, then, is this Government doubling down and insisting on building more and more data centres when our electricity infrastructure is creaking during a housing crisis? Just today, An Coimisiún Pleanála overturned Mayo County Council's decision to build a data centre as the applicants had failed to show there was sufficient electricity locally to serve the centre and for climate reasons. This is to be welcomed. I really hope that Kildare County Council is paying attention to this development because this logic must be applied across the State. Look at the Scottish Parliament, which just this week voted to pause any new data centre builds until proper guidance is in place. Our housing supply is being massively affected by these new sites and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions mentioned that as well when it was before the climate committee recently. The Government still has no legislative requirement that housing developments be prioritised over data centres for grid capacity. This is why Sinn Féin has also brought forward legislation that would require the Government and the regulator to prioritise housing ahead of data centres for electricity connections because the national grid should, first and foremost, serve the needs of the Irish people. If capacity is available, homes must come first. If there is a choice between powering a new housing development and another large scale data centre, the homes must come first. This is what the people of my constituency want. They want their kids to be able to afford to buy a house in Naas, live locally and see their grandchildren growing up. They do not want them having to work an hour and half down the road. This is why Sinn Féin believes a data centre levy should be seriously considered. Simply put, those who place the greatest demands on our electricity infrastructure should make a fair contribution towards the cost they impose on the system. This levy would help ensure the burden does not continue to fall disproportionately on ordinary consumers, while sending a clear signal that strategic national infrastructure must be used in the public interest. The Government's priorities have been clear. They have put corporate demand ahead of strategic planning and they have failed to ensure that housing and ordinary consumers are protected. Sinn Féin's priorities are different. We believe housing must come first. We believe workers and families must come first. --- 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