Plans for data centre expansion could see new data centres use the same amount of power as every other electricity user in the country combined, the Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence (AI) will hear on Tuesday.
A Government-backed policy intends to facilitate new data centre growth to a point where the additional centres use as much as 5.8 gigawatts (GW) of electricity by 2040.
Hannah Daly, professor of sustainable energy at University College Cork, will tell committee members they must carefully consider the scale of that demand and its implications.
A working paper Daly co-authored which will be presented to the committee says: “While this 5.8GW figure represents an output of stakeholder engagement rather than a definitive demand forecast, its scale is highly significant relative to Ireland’s power system.
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“In fact, 5.8GW is roughly equivalent to the highest ever recorded peak electricity demand for the entire Republic of Ireland across all sectors of the economy combined, which reached a historic maximum of 6.02GW in January 2025.”
Already data centres are using 22 per cent of all electricity in the country – the highest proportion in the world.
That figure is set to grow to more than 30 per cent in the next five years based on data centre expansions and new developments that have already been granted permission to connect to the electricity grid.
A policy agreed by the Government last December to enable expansion beyond those already with permission would see requirements on proposed new data centres to provide their own electricity – but just 80 per cent would have to come from renewable sources and only after six years in operation.
Daly will tell the committee those rules will increase greenhouse gas emissions, push national emission reduction further out of reach and breach national climate law and international climate agreements.
She will say there is a need for policy coherence as the data centre expansion runs counter to national climate policy.
The meeting comes a week after a United Nations report highlighted Ireland as a “cautionary tale” for runaway data centre growth at a time when AI is surging, requiring greater processing capacity and bigger data centres.
The members will also hear from Jennie Stephens, professor of climate justice at Maynooth University, who has also expressed serious concerns at the strains created by data centres on electricity supply and the transition to renewable energy.
Andrew Parnell, professor of data science for climate and weather at University College Dublin, will tell the committee of the potential AI has to improve the accuracy of weather forecasting and energy management.
Committee vice-chairman James Geoghegan said the members wanted to host a balanced discussion “about both the challenges and opportunities” AI presented.
