Minister for Energy and the Environment Darragh O’Brien has said the issue of data centres and their energy consumption is being “managed and planned appropriately” by the Government. He was responding to a new UN report on the environmental impact of AI growth, in which Ireland was cited as a “cautionary tale”.
The report highlights the heavy demand data centres place on Ireland’s energy systems, with 21 per cent of all electricity here used for data processing. That figure is forecast to grow to more than 30 per cent in the next few years as data centres expand to facilitate the huge processing capacity needed by AI, and proposed rules to let them provide their own electricity are expected to increase fossil-fuel use. Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland, O’Brien said the Government had published the Large Energy User Action Plan, “which means it’s a plan-led approach to any future connections with regards to data centres.
“What that means is any new data centre would have to bring forward 80 per cent at least of their own energy through new renewable sources before they would be given a connection agreement.”
The situation had to be managed, he said. “We have to balance the need for continued investment. Do we want Ireland to be at the leading edge of new technologies? I think we do.
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“That supports our whole economy and that supports the jobs within our economy. Or do we want to actually pull down the shutters on this? I don’t think we do. It needs to be managed and planned appropriately, which it is, ensuring there are criteria around the connections, particularly around the 80 per cent of energy being derived from new renewables.”
It was important to understand the data sector in Ireland was a significant part of the economy, worth €2.2 billion in 2024, the last year for which there was complete data, he said.
“Actually, there’s a lot of EU colleagues and a lot of colleagues across the world who look at Ireland with envy, with the amount of investment that we’ve received through data centres and through the companies who are investing in it.
“We’ve had really significant investments and foreign direct investment into leading-edge technologies that support our economy. On ICT alone in this country, it’s about 180,000 jobs, dependent on the ICT sector. About 20,000 in data centres alone. So, this is very significant investment.
“I think anyone who argues that we should not have data centres or new leading technologies in our economy ... [is] incorrect and they’re being short-sighted. Now, what we have to do and what we are doing is managing that demand.”
