Hundreds of people gathered for the first ever national protest against data centres in Dublin on Saturday.
People from across the country took part in the demonstration in the city centre, calling for a moratorium on any new data centres.
Organised by the environmental protection organisation Friends of the Earth Ireland as part of a Europe-wide day of action, the protest was attended by representatives from the Social Democrats, the Green Party and People Before Profit.
Sinn Féin TD Eoin Ó Broin and the party’s Dublin MEP Lynn Boylan were also among the crowds, as were local campaign groups from Dublin, Kildare, Westmeath, Waterford, Wicklow, Clare and Mayo.
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The protesters gathered at the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square and marched down to Leinster House on Kildare Street chanting “say it loud, say it clear: no more data centres here”, and “hey, hey, ho, ho, data centres have to go”.
Rosi Leonard, data centre campaign lead with Friends of the Earth Ireland, said the “real cost” of Ireland’s rapid data centre expansion was “being borne by ordinary people”.
“A recent report shows that the electricity consumption by big data centres may be resulting in higher energy costs for households,” she said.
“It found the average household may have paid an estimated €360 in additional electricity costs between 2015 to 2023 due to the intensity of data centre presence on the grid. With wholesale electricity prices already having doubled in the last 12 months, the last thing people in Ireland need is more pressure on their household bills.”
Kildare residents at the demonstration said they were opposed to a proposed campus next to the M7 motorway and business park in Naas.
Anna Roche, from Naas, Co Kildare, said such data centres only provide “short-term jobs when being built” and were “using our resources”.
“We’re not against data centres completely but already there is so many data centres in Ireland, there’s more going to be built and we’re just completely over-represented by them compared to any other European country,” she said. “Our Government has kind of just given them free rein as well.”
Ciara Davitt, also from Naas, said: “We’re very concerned about what’s happening and the lack of communication from Kildare County Council and the disregard they currently have towards the Naas public who are expressing they do not want this hyperscale data centre to be built in their back garden. The council has refused to review and rezone and the question is why?”
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said people were “paying a huge price” for the Government prioritising data centres.
“People have literally paid €350 extra over the last 10 years in electricity bills as a direct consequence of data centres, pushing up electricity prices for all of us,” he said.
The Dublin South-West TD said around half of the country’s 124 data centres are located in South Dublin County Council.
Social Democrats TD Sinéad Gibney said a moratorium on data centres “was long overdue” and the introduction of such centres into Ireland was “poorly managed”.
“There’s a complete lack of transparency as to the running of these places and they are tearing communities apart here in Ireland and across the world,” she said. “Sucking up energy uses while our prices skyrocket and they’re getting essentially mates’ rates from the Government. There is also water pollution and noise pollution.”
Green Party councillor and the party’s deputy leader Hazel Chu said data centres were “a huge issue”. She added that Ireland had the most compared to anywhere else in Europe, with more planned.
“That is why this discussion needs to happen now,” she said. “Especially with EU heads of state coming in [next Thursday], you need to really account for how much you want to kowtow to big tech when it comes to this . . . There needs to be some kind of moratorium.”
