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Data centres raise cost-of-living questions State cannot ignore

Irish households need honest information about costs of corporate energy demand

Letters to the Editor. Illustration: Paul Scott
The Irish Times - Letters to the Editor.
Sat May 30 2026 - 06:00 • 1 MIN READ

Sir, – Jack White’s article (“Data-centre energy demand adds hundreds of euros to home electricity bills,” May 28th) on data centre energy demand raises an issue the Irish Government can no longer ignore.

Data centres are not just an energy or climate issue; they are a cost-of-living issue too.

We are often told about the benefits of Ireland’s FDI-led model. Yet the article reports research that data-centre growth added an estimated €360 to household electricity bills between 2015 and 2023.

This raises a simple question: why should ordinary people be asked to help pay for the expansion of some of the richest tech companies in the world?

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Irish households need honest information about these costs, and a guarantee that they will not be left paying the bill for rapidly rising corporate energy demand. – Yours, etc,

DR CIARÁN O’CARROLL,

North Strand,

Dublin 1.