Data Centres
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-22
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Rose Conway-Walsh (SF), Mayo

Has a cost-benefit analysis been done in respect of data centres? Perhaps the Minister can answer this question. We need a thorough cost-benefit analysis. It may be that the information is there and I have not seen it. I ask this question because households are footing the bill for network upgrades to increase capacity for the expansion in the number of data centres, effectively subsidising the power supply for some of the most profitable companies in the world. Network charges currently represent 30% of household bills and are set to rise by an average of €41.25 annually from October. That is not fair. The Government's laissez faire approach cannot continue. Housing, energy security and infrastructure serving the public must be prioritised over the endless number of data centres. How many data centres do we need? How many are we going to have and where are they going to be located? The current arrangement of socialised costs for privatised profits cannot continue. I really think that we need to look at this whole area of data centres, where they are, how many are needed and what the cost-benefit analysis is.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-22