Energy Policy: Motion [Private Members]

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

I move:

That Dáil Éireann notes:

— in 2025, data centres consumed 23 per cent of electricity and this is projected to increase to 30 per cent by 2030, far in excess of the three per cent of electricity consumed by data centres in Europe;

— data centres account for 88 per cent of increased demand for electricity since 2015 and now consume almost as much electricity as every home in the state;

— over 120 data centres are operating in the state, a concentration that is at least 10 times higher than the European per capita average;

— a United Nations report published in June stated "Ireland offers a cautionary example of local grid stress from concentrated digital infrastructure";

— data centres also consume large quantities of water and their water consumption increased during the recent period of hot weather while households faced restrictions on water use as supplies ran low;

— data centre development globally is producing massive increases in greenhouse gas emissions and accelerating global temperature rise towards imminent breach of the dangerous 1.5 degrees celsius above preindustrial level;

— an immediate ban on new data centres is essential, in Ireland and globally to stop further increases in their consumption of our energy, their greenhouse gas emissions and their other extremely damaging environmental impacts;

— one in seven households could not afford adequate warmth or pay their energy bills in full in 2024, and over 322,000 households were in electricity arrears in July this year, with average arrears of €509;

— Friends of the Earth estimate that the average household paid an estimated additional €263 for their electricity in the 2021 to 2023 period "due to the intensity of data centre presence on the Irish Single Electricity Market (ISEM) grid putting upward pressure on prices", and during the height of the 2022 energy crisis, the "data centre price cost effect" accounted for the equivalent of about 8.5 per cent of average household electricity bills;

— Budget 2025 provided a €250 energy credit to households, paid between November 2024 and February 2025, but this was not renewed in Budget 2026;

— up to the end of the 1990s, the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) was a world class energy company, delivering low-cost energy, governed by a not-for-profit mandate, but that mandate was replaced with a commercial mandate in 2001;

— households in Ireland now pay the highest electricity prices in the European Union (EU), 38 per cent higher than the EU average;

— returning the ESB to a not-for-profit state company, with sole responsibility for power generation and distribution, and coupled with energy price caps, can deliver affordable electricity for all and be central to the achievement of a fossil fuel-free economy and society;

— People Before Profit-Solidarity’s Emergency Price Controls Bill 2024, introduced in the Dáil at First Stage in May 2024, calls for electricity prices to be capped for households at €0.25 per kilowatt hour (KWh);

— a €500 annual electricity credit for every household would cost an estimated €1 billion per year;

— an additional €500 electricity credit for households with people in receipt of Illness Benefit, Disability Allowance, Invalidity Pension or carer’s payments would cost an estimated €250 million per year;

— data centres pay approximately €0.20 per KWh for electricity, half the €0.40 average price paid by households; and

— an electricity consumption levy of €0.20 per KWh on data centres would equalise their electricity unit costs with those paid by households and would raise approximately €1.5 billion per year;

calls on the Government to:

— include an annual €500 electricity credit for every household in Budget 2027;

— include a budget provision for an annual additional €500 electricity credit for households with a person(s) in receipt of Illness Benefit, Disability Allowance, Invalidity Pension or carer’s payments; and

— introduce an electricity consumption levy on data centres of €0.20 per KWh, to equalise their electricity unit costs with those paid by households and thereby raise €1.5 billion to fund €500 energy credits for households.

I am sharing time with Deputy Coppinger. The budget is coming up. The cost-of-living crisis impacting huge numbers of people is on everybody's lips. This is, of course, added to the housing crisis blighting the lives of so many. People are asking if the Government is going to help those who are struggling. There are many aspects to the cost-of-living crisis. There is the cost of accommodation and housing, the cost of childcare, the cost of public transport and the cost of groceries and food but a critical issue for hundreds of thousands of people, and for everybody really, is the cost of energy. Thanks to Donald Trump, everybody is facing higher electricity, energy and fuel bills. By the way, shame on Members in this House, and I am glad to say there are not many of them, who ever thought that Donald Trump was going to do any good for the world. Not only has he has helped Israel rain death and destruction on the people of Palestine and the people of the Middle East and done horrible things to many different groups of people, now every person in this country and across the world is paying an economic price for his policies. There are going to be people who will not be able to pay their electricity and energy bills this winter because of his warmongering and misguided, immoral policies.

The Government is offering little assistance to those people. It offered the red carpet to Donald Trump last weekend, of course, but it is offering little assistance to the ordinary people. More than 300,000 of them are in arrears with their electricity bills. They cannot pay, or are seriously struggling, to pay their energy bills. Of course, it is not just about electricity. Our motion relates to electricity prices, but our proposals are actually about trying to help people who are struggling generally with the cost of energy, whether that is gas or electricity. When we take the two together, more than half a million households in this country are in arrears with either their gas or electricity bills. That is set to get worse because of Trump.

We are making a very simple proposal in this motion. It is to help people who are struggling, and not just those in arrears, but to ensure that every single household can get some help by introducing a €500 energy credit to help them with their electricity bills. We are also proposing to give an additional €500 to every household where there is somebody with a registered disability. We would pay for that by imposing a levy on the data centres. This levy would amount to making the data centres pay the same price for electricity as householders are paying.

I do not know how many people know the next fact about energy use, but we certainly want to alert people to ensure that they know about it. We have been trying to alert people to it. Some people may know, while others probably do not know, that while ordinary people are struggling to pay their electricity and energy bills and the price hikes resulting from the policies of Trump, data centres - as we will go on to discuss - are now using almost one quarter of the electricity in this country but only paying half the price per unit of electricity that ordinary householders are paying. It is a shocking fact. Data centres, owned by the billionaire tech companies that are making obscene profits, pay half the price for their electricity that ordinary householders pay. It is absolutely disgusting and completely unjustifiable.

It is worth going through the profits of the main owners of the data centres that are proliferating across the country and hoovering up one quarter of the electricity in the country, and soon to be one third of the electricity. Almost 80% of electricity in the Dublin area is being hoovered up by these data centres, the proliferation of which is making a mockery of any attempt to deal with climate change. They are also using significant volumes of water.

The companies that own them are Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Meta, and they are making obscene profits. Microsoft's Irish profits were €47 billion. Google's profits were €4.5 billion. Meta's profits were €2.9 billion. These are their annual profits. Amazon's profits were slightly less at €22 million, but still very significant. These are some of the richest companies, owned by some of the richest people in the world, and they are being subsidised by ordinary householders who are struggling to pay their bills, and who are going to be struggling even more this winter.

We are suggesting a very simple idea: that the data centres pay the same as the ordinary householders. That will raise €1.5 billion, which will fund a serious bit of support to help every household in the country to deal with their bills.

The average electricity arrears is about €500. This could help wipe out the arrears being endured by some of the poorest families. The average household is three or four people so hundreds of thousands of people are seriously struggling to pay their bills and are going to struggle more. This could give them a real break.

Our policies do not stop at that. Some might object that it is just more money in the pockets of energy companies. It is true that the energy companies are cleaning up at the moment, making extraordinary profits. I think the ESB made €975 million in profits in the most recently available figures. We also want to cap prices. In our wider policies, and we will propose this for the budget, we want to cap the prices they can charge ordinary householders for electricity and the same for gas, petrol, diesel and so on but that is another day's work. In case anybody objects that this is a handout to the super rich and the multimillionaires, believe me, People Before Profit will be taking that money back off the millionaires with a multimillionaire tax. We will propose and have proposed taxes on the super wealthy year in, year out.

Setting that aside, people need help now. The Government recognised this in 2025 when it gave energy credits of €250 but it then withdrew them. In the most recent budget, people with disabilities lost about €1,200 in the various cuts in supports the Government inflicted on them. That is why we have also stressed the need to give additional help to people with disabilities. It is hitting the most vulnerable - those with disabilities and their carers. We propose a fair and justified way to give every household some support and in particular to give additional support to those with disabilities.

It is worth bearing in mind that we have the highest electricity prices in Europe, confirmed by the European Union statistical agency during the summer. We were told by previous Fianna Fáil Governments that we needed to deregulate and liberalise the market and change the mandate of the ESB, the State-owned electricity company, because if we introduced competition into the market, it would benefit the consumer. The opposite happened. Prior to the deregulation of the Irish electricity market, we had the lowest electricity prices. Now, we have the highest. They are 40% higher than the EU average, and that was before Trump's wars and the impact of data centres. Deregulation and privatisation of the market have benefited private companies and big energy providers but have crucified ordinary householders to the extent that hundreds of thousands of people are in arrears.

I am picking on the data centres in imposing this levy because they are hoovering up huge amounts of electricity to the benefit of some of the richest people in the world. The Government defends the subsidy to these people already making billions in profits on the grounds that it is critical infrastructure. I wonder if the Government and the Minister are listening to what the tech billionaires themselves are now saying. It is a technology the Government has decided it will subsidise, allowing these data centres that are linked substantially to the development of AI to proliferate. Even the AI tech billionaires are now saying that technology could destroy the world and humanity. I do not actually take that very seriously because I think they are just looking for more handouts but it underlines the madness of a policy of giving them €1 billion in subsidies a year and continuing to allow data centres to proliferate. I will be interested to hear the Minster's response. People will be out on the streets this Saturday at the Affordable Ireland demonstration demanding a real break in the cost of living. They are absolutely right to do so. A simple measure the Government could take to alleviate some of this cost-of-living misery is to support this motion.

Deputy Ruth Coppinger

Solidarity fully supports this motion. Just before I came down to the Chamber, I heard very positive news that a data centre has been refused planning permission in Mayo. I have not heard the full details but there were concerns about where it would access electricity and concerns about climate. I hope we are now seeing the tide start to turn against the carte blanche given to data centres.

I recall raising this during questions to the Minister previously. He and another Minister sort of laughed in my face when I said-----

Deputy Darragh O'Brien

I have never done that.

Deputy Ruth Coppinger

-----the purpose of these data centres was mainly for AI, which is not useful to the world or to humanity; in fact, it is very detrimental in many cases. I hope the Minister is starting to reconsider. A lot of young people and a growing body of people are extremely critical of AI. I also want to mention how intersectional an issue this is. It intersects with the environment, military technology, the cost of living, which this motion focuses on, and many other issues. An estimated cumulative average of about €360 in ordinary people's energy bills has been laid at the door of data centres. With households already paying twice as much as a data centre per unit and with the highest electricity prices in the EU, why is the Government so uncaring about the proliferation of data centres? Would the Minister admit that maybe the Government has erred? Ireland is now becoming the bogeyman rather than the poster boy for what other countries should not do. These price rises hit low-income households disproportionately and the Government has taken away the supports. How are people going to cope if that continues to be the Government's stance? Seven electricity suppliers have increased their energy prices over the past few months. The CRU said there will be a €41 increase per month from October, largely laying it at the door of data centre usage. With over 322,000 in electricity arrears, there is a serious problem for many working-class families. The Central Bank also came out with a pressing concern that house building will slow down, another issue I raised previously, because of the lack of available electricity connections due to data centres. A levy on data centres is urgent. It is not like they cannot afford to pay. Microsoft had profits of €47 billion. Is the Minister seriously suggesting it could not pay a levy? It is well able to pay.

Further than that, the ESB, which once was a public utility, should be brought back into State ownership and run for profit to get bills down in the first place. Bord Gáis announced it will increase its bills by €140 a year. There is a huge level of gas arrears. In recent days, the regulator admitted that data centres are a threat to the gas grid too and new data centres will be offered lower prices but it may have to cut them off if there is too much demand. There is a proposal for 17 more data centres. They would have the same gas needs as 2.6 million homes. We need to get a grip. There should be a moratorium on data centres. They are now a threat to people's pockets, the environment and our resources, guzzling a quarter of our electricity. It is proposed to take water from the Shannon to Dublin. Most of the data centres are around Dublin, Meath and nearby locations.

My constituency, Dublin West, seems to be a hot spot for data centres. There are more than 20 data centres in Dublin 15 and Clonee, which is beside us. According to a report our councillor John Burtchaell put in, the council is not aware of how much energy those centres use. They are not required to indicate that on planning applications. It just seems to be a let-it-rip approach. Another data centre has been approved for Clonee. These centres are overwhelmingly located in areas of deprivation. That has been pointed out by the Think-tank for Action on Social Change.

It is interesting - and I hope this will spread to Ireland - that there has been a movement against data centres in the USA. Even the Republican Party is having to make talking points out of data centres because of the impact they are having in the context of drought. This is combined with the heatwaves we have been having. In Monterey Park in California, for example, there was an organised response to a new data centre coming to the town. It was a huge issue at the city council. In Naas, 300 people turned out at a public meeting to discuss this matter. Therefore, consciousness of these data has been raised in Irish society centres, particularly over the summer when we could not water our plants because data centres were using so much water. People are aware that there is a real problem with these issues. It is not just an environmental issue; it is a democratic issue as well because it seems the big tech companies - the tech bro billionaires - are dictating, and they are completely unaccountable. For example, thejournal.ie had a report that roughly half of these centres did not even have to give details of the resources they are using.

This motion should be supported by the Minister. We could eliminate the arrears of the more than 300,000 households and take the dread and stress off many people. How can the Minister continue to allow the electricity companies to increase their profits? ESB Group just made a 20% increase in its profits. Airtricity also hugely increased its profits. The data centres are guzzling almost a quarter of our electricity. They are also guzzling our water. To sit idly by while people go into debt is absolutely unforgivable.

These multinational companies should be taxed more broadly. We cannot continue to pretend that we can have public services such as a State childcare system, healthcare and so on without taxing wealth. We cannot continue to allow these companies to pay low tax or no tax.

Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment (Deputy Darragh O'Brien)

I move:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"the Government:

— remains deeply concerned about the conflict in the Middle East and its impact on energy prices;

— is acutely aware of the impact on households and businesses of the recent increases in the cost of energy, and is actively monitoring the current geopolitical situation and its impact on costs;

— has taken action to help households and businesses with the cost of fuel and energy by introducing one of the most comprehensive support packages in the European Union (EU); and

— affirms that energy affordability is a priority for this Government with the Energy Affordability Action Plan to be submitted to Government in the coming weeks and consideration ongoing of supports for household;

notes that:

— the ongoing conflict in the Middle East has caused international wholesale gas prices to increase which has a significant knock-on impact on retail electricity prices;

— supplier hedging strategies have and are continuing to help cushion households from the full volatility in international wholesale energy markets;

— price setting by electricity suppliers, including standing charges is a commercial and operational matter for the companies concerned and each such company has its own different approach to pricing decisions over time, in accordance with factors such as their overall company strategic direction and costs such as staffing, tax, infrastructure;

— Government understands that any price increase can be a challenge for households and businesses;

— for that reason, the Government has taken action to help households and businesses with the cost of fuel and energy;

— extensions to the package of temporary fuel supports have brought the total cost of these measures to over €1.4 billion and are helping to reduce the cost burden at the petrol pump;

— successive Budgets have provided targeted support to help households with energy costs;

— in Budget 2026, key measures included an extension until 2030 of the nine per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) rate currently applied to gas and electricity bills, enhanced social protection payments, including an increase to the Fuel Allowance weekly rate and an expansion in the eligibility rules, and a record allocation of €640 million for SEAI retrofit schemes;

— at the same time, additional retrofitting supports have been rolled out to further help households, capital expenditure of over €2 billion has delivered over 287,000 home energy upgrades from 2019 to the end of August 2026, including over 39,500 fully funded upgrades for households at risk of energy poverty under the Warmer Homes Scheme;

— in January this year we expanded and reformed retrofitting schemes to ensure more homeowners can receive grants, the new measures included increased attic and wall insulation supports, an increased grant of €12,500 for heat pump installation, and new grants for windows and doors;

— almost 89,000 applications have been processed to the end of August 2026, an increase of 116 per cent on the same period last year;

— this year to the end of August 2026, almost 42,000 homes have been upgraded through SEAI schemes, including over 6,800 homes at risk of energy poverty under the Warmer Homes Scheme;

— the latest Eurostat report (comparing electricity prices across the EU) outlines that Ireland had the fifth highest household electricity prices in the second half of 2025 when adjusted to take account of the "Purchasing Power Standard" (i.e. practical affordability, taking account of household income);

— the four biggest energy retailers have confirmed that hardship funds and focused measures are in place for any customers in difficulty;

— switching energy supplier or plan could save the average electricity and gas customers up to €700 and €400 (respectively) annually;

— protections are in place for customers experiencing difficulties in paying their bills and households struggling with their bill are strongly encouraged to engage with their supplier;

— the Department of Social Protection can also provide support through the Additional Needs Payment to help households meet expenses, including difficulties with fuel bills;

— Government has also established the National Energy Affordability Taskforce (NEAT) to identify, assess and implement measures that will enhance energy affordability for households and businesses while delivering key renewable commitments and protecting security of supply and economic stability;

— the NEAT continues to work intensively on an Energy Affordability Action Plan to be submitted to Government in the coming weeks;

— the range of supports that were included in Budget 2026 are in line with the movement away from one-off measures, towards permanent supports with funding also provided to address structural issues such as retrofit and infrastructure;

— the Government will continue to monitor and assess the situation in relation to energy costs; and

— the Government will also make a range of relevant decisions as part of Budget 2027;

further notes that:

— data centres represent critical digital infrastructure that are central to Ireland's modern economy;

— they strengthen Ireland's position as a strategic knowledge intensive regional hub for the Information and Communications Technology sector and also support broader retention and expansion of existing investment that support billions in annual economic value for Ireland via high-wage employment, tax receipts and supplier ecosystems;

— when considering the impact of data centres, we must also weigh wider economic benefits — tax revenues, employment, broader digital infrastructure value and significant support and linkages provided to other high value sectors of the economy;

— currently the industry employs 19,500 directly, in addition, Ireland's technology sector, underpinned by digital infrastructure in data centres, accounted for employment of 182,900 people in Q4 2024, equivalent to seven per cent of Ireland's total workforce;

— while data centres are large energy users, unlike other European countries that have heavy-industry bases, Ireland's industrial electricity demand is primarily concentrated in our digital economy, this is our core energy-intensive industry;

— comparing total non-residential electricity consumption, which includes industry and data centres, Ireland's consumption is in line with Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin, (FLAP-D) and other European markets, which represent the tier-one, foundational hubs of Europe's digital infrastructure;

— the Government has for a long time recognised that data centres and their energy consumption need to be managed and planned appropriately and we are taking the regulatory, policy and investment measures to deliver on this;

— the Government is committed to delivering a balanced approach to facilitate sustainable data centre demand while also ensuring overall energy security and affordability for consumers and businesses;

— the Government's Large Energy User (LEU) Action Plan, published in January 2026, sets out a 'plan-led' approach for very large and energy intensive investments, which due to their scale and energy consumption benefit from co-ordinated national infrastructure planning;

— the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) LEU connection policy, published in December 2025, establishes a pathway for new data centres to seek connection to the electricity system, that addresses security of electricity supply risks, system constraints and promotes renewable energy targets;

— the CRU is responsible for electricity connection policy and the economic regulation of the electricity system operators ESB Networks and EirGrid;

— Electricity Network Tariffs Structure Review, are set every year by the CRU to recover the costs of developing, operating, and maintaining the electricity grid, they fund a grid that is more resilient to storms and supplies electricity to a growing population, new housing and expanding businesses;

— extra-large energy users, like data centres, have in recent years seen large increases in network costs, with average increase of 175 per cent compared with a 45 per cent increase for domestic customers during 2020-2026;

— the United Nations (UN) university report referenced Ireland as 'a cautionary example of local grid stress from concentrated digital infrastructure', however, it should be noted that though referenced, Ireland was not a central tenet to the study but rather a brief paragraph in a much wider report;

— data centres are not a major driver of demand on the public water supply network, accounting for less than 0.3 per cent of the water supplied by Uisce Eireann;

— in addition, not all data centres use water from the Uisce Eireann network, with a number of them having their own wells or utilising rainwater harvesting and on-site storage;

— the CRU's LEU connection policy supports Government renewable energy targets, as data centres above certain thresholds will be required to meet at least 80 per cent of their annual demand with new additional renewable electricity generated in the Republic of Ireland; and

— according to the Environmental Protection Agency's Greenhouse Gas Emissions data for 2025, Ireland now has the lowest level of greenhouse gas emissions in 36 years, including a 7.1 per cent reduction in energy industries, to an all-time low, this demonstrates that economic growth has been definitively decoupled from greenhouse gas emissions;

— the Friends of the Earth report referenced makes particular assumptions about how the electricity market works and the authors acknowledge that the modelling used in the report has limitations;

— consistent with the Government's position, a recent Friends of the Earth report underlines the importance of deploying even more renewable electricity to remove gas related cost effect driving energy prices’, both Government LEAP policy and CRU LEU Connection Decision recognise and support sustainable LEU development ensuring renewables are a key component in any development going forward;

— the Government is committed to delivering a balanced approach to facilitate sustainable data centre developments, which operate within the boundaries of our climate legislation and targets and are associated with strong economic activity and employment, support our society, and make efficient use of our electricity grid.".

Tairgim an frithrún. I thank the Deputies for tabling the motion. It gives us an opportunity to discuss this issue. I reject the motion - I take some of the points that are made in it - and that is why I brought forward the countermotion.

To set the context of where we are, we all understand that, in particular, the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, which have not been mentioned - Deputy Boyd Barrett mentioned the Middle East briefly - have caused significant disruption to global energy markets. I do not think anyone would disagree with that. We recognise-----

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

Donald Trump, not the Middle East.

Deputy Darragh O'Brien

I agree, but it is not just that. It is also Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the various disruptions we have had in recent years that are putting significant pressure on energy prices right across Europe. On the purchasing power index through Eurostat, Ireland is approximately eighth for energy prices. It is not first, but electricity is still very expensive for a lot of people. That is a matter we continue to grapple with. The acceleration of the use of renewables will be critical in that regard, but I will turn to that in a moment. I assure the House that supply, which is critical for an island nation, is being monitored on a regular basis. Thankfully, approximately 50% of our electricity is generated through renewable sources. We doubled our renewable capacity over a ten-year period. We have 3 GW of solar, and we are going to accelerate that. We need to get on with the grid investment programme we have under price review, PR, 6 and make sure that critical projects such as the North-South interconnector that have been held up are built.

We understand that any price increase can be a serious challenge for households and small businesses. As a result, we have been proactive. We have introduced a series of measures to reduce fuel prices, and further measures are under consideration by the national energy affordability task force, which feeds into the budgetary task force. I chair that task force, which will meet again tomorrow.

Specifically on fuel, the package of Government support measures is to the tune of €1.4 billion. This package is helping to reduce the cost burden, particularly at the pump and for productive sectors such as haulage right the way across to agriculture. That is important because it underpins our supply chain and the tens of thousands of jobs in it.

I remind Deputies that I made a few significant changes in the budget for 2026. I reduced the VAT rate on electricity and gas to 9% right through to 2030. I extended social welfare direct payments to households, including fuel allowance payments. More than a quarter of households receive those direct payments, and that is a matter that is under consideration for the upcoming budget. I also retained the €400 income tax disregard for households involved in microgeneration. I intend for that to be kept.

The best way to insulate our economy and society from fuel price shocks is to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. That is why we are investing record amounts of money in retrofitting through part- and fully-funded schemes. We provided €640 million in last year's budget for this year to carry out retrofitting in households and businesses, targeting 73,000 households to bring about reductions in energy use, emissions and bills. In January, I brought forward changes to that. We expanded the schemes to which I refer and reformed the retrofitting schemes to make sure they are targeted at middle-income households. We also expanded the warmer homes scheme, which is the 100% grant aid scheme for those at risk of fuel poverty and those in receipt of social welfare payments. We have done more than 35,000 houses under that scheme and we have increased the number year on year. We want to do more of that because it is a protection against future price shocks.

We brought forward similar upgrades in respect of attic and cavity wall insulation. We doubled the grants for heat pumps, electrifying homes and reducing dependence on fossil fuels. Full home retrofits can save up to €1,200 per annum on energy costs. This year, since we made the changes, we have had approximately 89,000 applications to the end of August, so people are responding. I intend to bring forward further measures in that regard because they ensure that we can protect households against future energy shocks. More than €2 billion has been invested in that area since 2019. The 89,000 applications we have received to the end of August compares with 41,100 in the same period last year.

As of the end of August, we had supported more than 21,000 homes with domestic solar photovoltaic schemes, which are important in reducing people's bills. This year alone, we have received 35,000 applications, which is an increase of 72%. Again, we increased the grant to make sure that there are permanent savings for people.

A number of protections are in place for customers experiencing difficulties with paying their bills. The arrears figures - particularly those relating to 90-day arrears - are too high. They have plateaued in recent months, but they are a concern. We are looking at that matter. At my request, all the main suppliers have put in place hardship funds and protections for customers against disconnection. Disconnection does not happen in any real way. It is percentage of a per cent. It is a very small number, and I want to keep it that way.

I have already mentioned the changes we made on social protection measures. They all form part of the discussions we are having now, in advance of the budget which will be announced in early October. The Deputies' parties will be putting forward alternative budgets, as they do each year. They are perfectly entitled to do so, and we will feed it into the debate.

It is important to highlight that the recent price increases are a matter for the Commission for Regulation of Utilities. We have seen a number of increases. Electric Ireland did not increase its prices and has indicated that it will not be seeking an increase in tariffs over the coming months.

I do not recall ever laughing at Deputy Coppinger in the Chamber. That is not something I would do. Her recollection of something might be completely different from mine. I take this debate seriously because we have to be honest with people that we are not a heavy industry nation.

We are not a large heavy industrial manufacturer. ICT, not just data centres, forms a really important part of our economy, employing about 7% of our people. There are about 2.8 million people working in our country now. Nearly 2.3 million are working on a full-time basis. Just short of 190,000 people work in the ICT sector. Some 19,000 are directly employed in data centres. Data centres are a very important part of our digital infrastructure and of our offering as a country. The largest and most important protection against poverty and price increases is for people to have good jobs. As a Government, we have a responsibility to maintain and grow the jobs that are here. I refer both to indigenous Irish firms and foreign direct investment. That is also critically important. Neither Deputy mentioned job creation and job retention. That must be fundamental to the operation of our society and our economy.

We had a good discussion earlier today when we had oral questions on energy. There was a lot of discussion of data centres. I mentioned the large energy user action plan that I brought forward with the Minister, Deputy Peter Burke, in January of this year. That sets out a planned approach to any additional data centres or other large energy users being given a connection. Any new ones will have to meet 80% of their electricity demand through new renewable sources.

Deputy Paul Murphy

On an annualised basis on a five-year-----

Deputy Darragh O'Brien

I was going to wait for Deputy Murphy to speak later on. Anyway, that is a fact. Deputy Stanley was also here for that debate, when I also said that applications for connections are not automatically granted. If anything, many have been refused. We have to balance this and that is done independently through the planning process and through the connection agreements that are in place.

On demand, the critical priority is to ensure we can meet demand right the way across our country. That is why the PR6 grid investment is so important. That €18.9 billion of investment will deliver more than 520 capital projects to allow for more renewables on our system - we are accelerating renewables - to allow more storage in our system and to bring down energy bills. The fundamental way to do that is to accelerate renewables by reducing our dependence on fossil fuel. That has to be done and that is what we are doing.

In relation to the measures we will take, the Deputies are perfectly entitled to put forward this motion with their suggestions. We are now preparing for the budget. I assure people that the budget will be a cost-of-living budget. It will be about protecting families, workers, working families and the most vulnerable in our society through what is a global crisis. We are not going to be able to protect everyone from every single price increase but we will do our level best to protect them in a very sustainable way that continues to protect jobs in our economy and not by shutting down a whole sector.

Deputy Paul Murphy

The Minister is defending the indefensible. That is why he did not really engage with it. He is defending the fact that, when 300,000 people are in arrears on their electricity bills, data centres owned by the richest and most powerful companies in the world are paying half the price the poorest people in the country are expected to pay. He is defending the absolutely indefensible. He is saying that we cannot possibly say that these, the richest companies in the world, which provide very few jobs as we will get onto in a second, should be asked to pay the same as ordinary households, which is a minimal ask. The fact that this would generate €1.5 billion, enough money to give a €500 energy credit to every family in the country and an additional €500 to every family with a disabled member, speaks to how much electricity is being used by these data centres. They are now using almost as much electricity as every single house in this State put together.

This goes to the nub of the issue, which is that this Government is not representing the people; it is representing the big tech companies. That is what it is doing at an EU level. If you read the priorities, you see that they are about pushing a deregulation agenda within Europe as part of the digital omnibus package on behalf of US big tech corporations. It is also what it is doing domestically. On every single front, big tech's data centres are being put before ordinary people.

I really think that more and more people are waking up to the costs of this policy. There are huge costs on multiple fronts, to be paid by ordinary people, as a result of the Minister's prioritisation of these data centres and their insatiable demand for our electricity. There is the actual cost in their pockets, which Friends of the Earth has highlighted very clearly. Extensive research shows that, between 2021 and 2023, the average household paid an extra €263 in their bills because of data centres' usage. How does that work? Data centres are pushing up the total amount of electricity being used. They are using about a quarter of our total electricity. They are thereby increasing the amount of time we spend using gas rather than just using renewables. When you do that, gas sets the price for all the electricity. People are paying the cost of that. That does not take into account the extra money people are paying in network charges.

This report by Dr. Seán Fearon estimates that, in total, between 2015 and 2023, the public paid €715 million extra because of the Government's policy of prioritising data centres. That is just what happened in the past. Let us look at what is going to happen in the future. Without a new energy shock, the average household will pay €461 over the next ten years. However, we are in the middle of a new energy shock because of what is happening in the Middle East. The report's predictions in respect of the increase in the price of oil are modest but, in that scenario, the cost could be €726 million, €1.1 billion or €1.6 billion cumulatively for households. We are talking about the average household in this country paying hundreds and hundreds of euro as a result of the Minister's prioritisation of data centres.

The public is going to pay big time as a result of our failure to meet our climate targets. The Minister has thrown in the towel on climate action. He did so over Christmas, when he said we were not going to meet any of our targets. In the middle of September, we are still patiently waiting for the climate action plan for 2026. The year is almost over.

Deputy Darragh O'Brien

If the Deputy was here this morning, he would have heard about it, but he was not.

Deputy Paul Murphy

Why? It is because we cannot meet any of our targets. We are going to reach a point well under half of our targets, which are supposed to be legally binding, because the data centres have gobbled up all of the renewable energy. Sometimes when the Minister talks about this he gives the impression that, as long as we keep adding renewable energy, it is good for the climate. The climate does not care. The planet cares about the amount of greenhouse gases. If you are adding extra renewables but all of that additional capacity is being gobbled up by data centres, then it does not matter. That is precisely what has happened. Since 2017, all of the extra renewable capacity has been gobbled up by data centres. We are therefore also paying for it in terms of climate.

We are also paying for it in terms of housing. It was the Minister's own senior civil servant who said that we need to make a choice about our energy use and asked whether our energy was going to go to data centres or to housing. Of course, the Minister dismissed that. Why? It was because he had made his choice. It is going to go to data centres. This has actually happened. It happened in west Dublin. A new substation was designed to provide electricity for new housing but a data centre then came in and took up that electricity. We are paying for it in terms of public transport. I am convinced that this is a key factor in the delay in the electrification of our buses and other public transport projects.

Data centres are coming first and for what? In a comment last week, which the Minister kind of pointed towards today, he suggested that this is our equivalent to Germany's car factories. That is a joke. In terms of direct jobs, German car factories account for about 400,000 direct jobs. Earlier on, the Minister said - I believe he misspoke and probably wants to correct the record - that there are 19,000 directly employed in data centres. I do not know if he would stand over that figure.

Deputy Darragh O'Brien

There are 189,000 people working in ICT.

Deputy Paul Murphy

Earlier, the Minister said that 19,000 are directly employed in data centres.

Does the Minister stand over that?

Deputy Darragh O'Brien

Yes.

Deputy Paul Murphy

Great, because he will have to correct the record later as that is not what is in his record. The Minister knows he is fiddling the figures because that 19,000 figure - it is 19,500 - is coming from the KPMG report, on which the Minister spent €105,000 of public money to get. He told them we only want this outcome, that is, to say data centres are really important. Most of those jobs are construction jobs. There are not 19,000 people in working data centres directly in this country. The Minister knows that is not true. Most of them are construction jobs.

Deputy Ruth Coppinger

They could be building houses.

Deputy Paul Murphy

They could be building houses. That is the other way this is affecting the housing crisis. There are more than 10,000 of these workers who are spending their time building data centres and they are purely temporary jobs. The KPMG report actually says these jobs will disappear once we have built all of the data centres. The workers could instead be building housing. What is the actual figure? How many people actually work in data centres? The Minister's own report, which is a report designed to support the case for data centres, says 3,300 direct jobs. The figure is 3,300, not 19,000, not 200,000 or the 1 million KPMG was trying to point towards. The figure is 3,300 direct jobs. Of course, every job is important. If any of these data centres had to shut down, we are in favour of a just transition but 3,300 jobs for an industry that is gobbling up one quarter of our electricity makes no sense.

The Minister is defending the indefensible. People across the world are waking up to the reality that this is the toxic waste of the 21st century. They use up all your electricity. They use up all your water. They restrict other jobs being created because of various industries not having access to electricity. They prevent the building of housing. They interfere with the delivery of public transport and they provide a tiny number of jobs. Nobody wants them. People in America are rising up against them and saying we do not want them but the Government approach is to say we will have this toxic waste nobody else wants. I will underline the point. When you are living in a country that has this very unusual, outsized nature of the data centres, people probably do not get just how unusual it is. Ireland is a massive outlier. There is no country like Ireland in terms of the percentage of electricity usage or any other metric you want to look at. We are ten times the European average.

The Government is on the run on this issue. An Coimisiún Pleanála's decision on the Mayo data centre is extremely significant. The turnout at the public meeting in Kildare a couple of weeks ago is extremely significant. People are waking up to the Government's agenda and the fact the Government is putting data centres before the needs of ordinary people in this country. I really predict this will be an enormous political issue over the course of the coming months. The Government's position is utterly untenable. It is why it makes all of the arguments it makes. Let us take up one of them as there are only ten seconds left. This idea that we should not worry as they are using 80% renewable energy is nonsense. The Minister knows it is nonsense. That is on an annualised basis over a whole number of years whereas the whole point is that data centre demand is pretty much continuous, it barely changes whereas renewables come and go. That is the whole point. It makes no sense to continue on this line. We need action on the cost-of-living crisis. We need people on the streets on Saturday.

Deputy Réada Cronin

I welcome the opportunity to speak in favour of this motion. Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil le PBP as ucht an rúin seo. This is a critical motion because Irish households are paying roughly twice as much for electricity as data centres. Ordinary workers, families and pensioners are paying significantly more for their electricity than these large energy users. It is grossly unfair. It is the direct consequence of the Government's reckless failure to plan. At a time when ordinary people are being squeezed from every direction, Government policy has prioritised the interests of ever increasingly monstrous data centres over the interests of households, communities and families. For years, Ministers have ignored Sinn Féin's repeated warnings about the impact that unchecked data centre expansion would have on our electricity grid. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael ignored warnings about pressure on grid capacity, despite data centre demand having exploded by over 400% over the last ten years. They ignored warnings about the fact that data centres are preventing houses from being built.

Just yesterday, the Central Bank report detailed that a lack of access to the grid is one of the key reasons why housing is not being provided. While Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael fight for this status quo, Sinn Féin is absolutely clear that data centres must pay their fair share. In my constituency of Kildare North, the building of the Herbata data centre has been a source of massive anxiety for my constituents. Nearby, Jigginstown in Naas has been rezoned for another data centre and this has also caused massive concern. I attended that meeting in Naas, which was attended by several hundred people. It really has ignited people. This new site is twice the size of the Herbata complex, with its borders a mere 130 m away from homes and schools in the area. Having attended that meeting two weeks ago, it is clear there are serious concerns and the Government has to address them. We have seen the reports from Clondalkin on the impact on locals from noise but a hyper data centre right beside Herbata could cause havoc for residents in Naas and Kildare. Ireland has done more than its fair share in respect of data centres. This summer, the United Nations cited Ireland as a cautionary tale on the environmental impact of runaway artificial intelligence growth and data centre demand.

We already have enough data centres to store the important data we need on health and banking, etc. and we have certainly done our bit. This is not a Luddite reaction to technology and innovation. This explosion in data centre demand is all around AI. When the CEOs of these companies are urging caution, surely legislators should listen. I absolutely believe a lot of this is hype and I suspect there could be bit of corporate capture involved in it but we have to take a pause and listen to these people when they are urging caution. Why, then, is this Government doubling down and insisting on building more and more data centres when our electricity infrastructure is creaking during a housing crisis? Just today, An Coimisiún Pleanála overturned Mayo County Council's decision to build a data centre as the applicants had failed to show there was sufficient electricity locally to serve the centre and for climate reasons. This is to be welcomed. I really hope that Kildare County Council is paying attention to this development because this logic must be applied across the State.

Look at the Scottish Parliament, which just this week voted to pause any new data centre builds until proper guidance is in place. Our housing supply is being massively affected by these new sites and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions mentioned that as well when it was before the climate committee recently. The Government still has no legislative requirement that housing developments be prioritised over data centres for grid capacity. This is why Sinn Féin has also brought forward legislation that would require the Government and the regulator to prioritise housing ahead of data centres for electricity connections because the national grid should, first and foremost, serve the needs of the Irish people. If capacity is available, homes must come first. If there is a choice between powering a new housing development and another large scale data centre, the homes must come first. This is what the people of my constituency want. They want their kids to be able to afford to buy a house in Naas, live locally and see their grandchildren growing up. They do not want them having to work an hour and half down the road.

This is why Sinn Féin believes a data centre levy should be seriously considered. Simply put, those who place the greatest demands on our electricity infrastructure should make a fair contribution towards the cost they impose on the system. This levy would help ensure the burden does not continue to fall disproportionately on ordinary consumers, while sending a clear signal that strategic national infrastructure must be used in the public interest. The Government's priorities have been clear. They have put corporate demand ahead of strategic planning and they have failed to ensure that housing and ordinary consumers are protected. Sinn Féin's priorities are different. We believe housing must come first. We believe workers and families must come first.

Deputy Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh

Hear, hear.

Deputy Pearse Doherty

Gabhaim buíochas le PBP faoi choinne an rún seo a thabhairt os comhair na Dála anocht. Sílim go bhfuil sé ag an am ceart agus muid ag amharc ar an gcáinaisnéis. Week after week, workers and families are being hit with soaring energy bills. We hear it every single day. Unfortunately, we have had company after company in the past two weeks telling us they are putting up their prices again. There are double digit increases. That is another blow to families who are already stretched to the limit. The people out there are being told they have to find hundreds more euro every year. They simply do not have that type of money. That is the reality. I do not know if the Minister is hearing it in his constituency but I am definitely hearing it in my constituency and right across this country everywhere I go.

The reality is stark. Ireland already has the highest electricity prices in Europe. We now have more than 320,000 households in arrears on their electricity bills.

One in four households in the State cannot pay their gas bill because they have fallen behind. The statistics that we are seeing now are staggering. These are real people who do not have the money to pay their bills when they fall due. These figures should be setting off alarm bells in Government Buildings. The Minister should be standing up and asking what he can do here. Instead, he waltzes in here as if there is nothing to see. Those figures reveal the reality that these families are facing every single day and the scale of the crisis that ordinary people have to meet. That is before we even talk about the hundreds of thousands of other families who are able to pay their bills but are stretching themselves doing it. Life has become so unaffordable. People who expected to be able to enjoy the odd luxury here and there simply cannot do it any more. Families, workers and pensioners are all fighting to stay afloat and to avoid falling into debt. Those people are quietly rationing their heat, cutting back on electricity and leaving their home-heating oil tank empty because they simply cannot afford another fill.

It is baffling that time and again Government opposes energy credits on the grounds that they are not targeted. The truth is that the existing supports, important as they are, are not reaching enough people. That is a problem affecting not just a small minority but it is affecting households right across the State. That is why Sinn Féin has been very clear in this. We are calling for a return of energy credits as an emergency measure to provide immediate relief. Energy credits were always supposed to be an emergency response while the Government got its act together to implement reforms that would bring down prices permanently. However, those reforms never came. The Government never came with a single idea. Instead, the Government repeatedly voted down the ideas that we in Sinn Féin brought forward, practical proposals that would drive down costs. We all see the result every single day. Irish households remain entrapped with the highest electricity prices in Europe while record numbers fall into arrears. Government failure has been allowed to become the new normal.

This crisis did not happen overnight nor can it be blamed solely on a war or global instability. Every country has faced those pressures. The real question here is: why does Ireland still have the highest prices in Europe? People know the answer to that question. The Government has pursued a reckless expansion of data centres without ensuring the necessary grid infrastructure was in place first. It can commission all the reports it likes and can hire all the consultants to tell it what it wants to hear but none of that changes that reality. Officials within the Department of energy have acknowledged that data centres are driving up prices for everyone else. They pay a fraction of what ordinary households and small business pay. This is the system that Fianna Fáil created and that Fine Gael has presided over for years. To make matters worse, data centres are now being prioritised ahead of housing development in the middle of a housing emergency.

Sinn Féin is having none of that. That is why we introduced legislation to ensure housing comes first. We have consistently put forward proposals and practical measures to reduce energy costs to strengthen our electricity system and to support struggling households. Time and again Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and their supporters have voted against those reforms. Time and again they have chosen not to act. Workers and families deserve better. They deserve a government that understands the scale of the crisis and is prepared to take the action to address the causes of the high energy costs and not simply manage the consequences.

The message from households across the State is clear: enough is enough. It is time to put ordinary Irish people first. People cannot afford more excuses, more delays or more inaction. The Government needs to stop putting data centres first and put people first. They need relief, they need it now and it is time to deliver for them.

Deputy Mairéad Farrell

Ar an gcéad dul síos, ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil le PBP agus Solidarity as an rún seo a chur chun tosaigh. I thank People Before Profit and Solidarity for bringing forward this really important motion. The reality is the people are in crisis. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that ordinary people need energy credits and that we need to start putting ordinary communities ahead of data centres. I am actually beginning to think that this Government is making life harder for people on purpose because if this was not on purpose, I do not see how it would be getting it so terribly wrong.

This is the Dáil's first week back and people are worried out of their minds because of the winter they are facing. They are telling all of us they are not able to make ends meet now and everybody is aware of that. They are seeing that oil prices are rising. People living in the west of Ireland are reliant on oil. The Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, is aware of that as somebody who resides in the west of Ireland. Oil prices are rising and Government is silent. Electricity prices are rising and Government is silent but Government is not silent on public transport fares. In fact, instead of being silent on it, it has decided to increase them. Instead of assisting struggling households it has decided to make it even more difficult for struggling households. Tonight's motion would assist ordinary families and workers by actually by putting money back into their pockets to make it just that little bit easier for them to be able to make ends meet. However, of course as always, these things fall on deaf ears when it comes to Government.

There is a clear message that I want to give to the Minister for Transport who has disappointingly just left the Chamber. Public transport fare price increases have already had a devastating impact on Galway families. A number of individuals in Galway have contacted me to say that they are unable to meet this extra demand on their resources. What this will mean, and the NTA has confirmed it, is that fewer people will be able to use public transport instead of more people. Not only that, but the Government has doubled down when it comes to Oranmore train station where people will now have to pay for parking in order to be able to use the train station, which is ridiculous. They will not be able to access Oranmore train station with public transport until at least 2028. I am unsure how the Government is expecting people to use that train unless it specifically does not want it to be used.

We have also seen a huge increase in the Dublin MetroLink cost. There are serious concerns in the west of Ireland about the impact this will have on people across the west of Ireland, specifically on capacity on the 424 bus. Far too many people all summer have been left waiting at the side of the road, unable to access that bus and it continues to worsen in these months during the academic year. We urgently need the Minister for Transport to intervene.

Deputy Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh

Gabhaim buíochas le Pobal seachas Brabús as ucht an rún seo a chur os ár gcomhair and for giving me the opportunity to highlight the disaster that is the Jigginstown Herbata data centres in Naas. The people in Kildare have serious concerns about the development of these data centres. Profits of corporations are being put before the liveability of the town as well as the livelihoods and well-being of its residents. The scale of the proposed project in Jigginstown is terrifying. If built, the Herbata complex would span an area seven times the size of Croke Park, reportedly consume three times as much electricity as the whole of Kildare annually, as well as 18,000 litres of water a day. This would jeopardise urgently needed future housing in the county by placing additional pressure on stretched infrastructure. The massive drain on energy resources by data centres will also lead to spikes in bills for families and small businesses who are already struggling to keep the heating and the lights on. The Government is wilfully and recklessly allowing the situation to deteriorate.

The environmental impact is equally alarming. The data centres proposed for Jigginstown will rely on gas and emit up to 1.6 million tonnes of CO2 per year. That is equivalent to the emissions of half a million cars. If allowed to go ahead, this project will spell disaster, worsening the already dire cost of living, housing and climate crisis.

The hyperscale facility would create further problems in terms of noise pollution and property valuation due to being planned mere metres away from an established residential area. We are not against data centres wholesale but there has to be a balancing of interests. At the moment, Government is neglecting the public good in favour of wooing multinational investment. In terms of cost and benefit, the number of jobs created would be minimal and does not justify the harm the development would inflict on the environment and the quality of life of the community. The project simply must not go ahead. The land must be rezoned before the Jigginstown application is submitted. Sinn Féin Councillor Noel Connolly will bring a motion to Kildare County Council that would oblige the chief executive to initiate the rezoning process. There will be a protest outside Áras Cill Dara at 1.30 p.m. on 28 September when this motion is being discussed.

The motion before us tonight is consistent with that objective and represents an important step towards restoring balance and protecting communities. For too long, companies have been drawing on Ireland's natural resources while our citizens bear the cost. The Government needs to finally show leadership, stand up to tech and say, "Enough is enough". Teastaíonn cothromaíocht inár gcur chuige i leith forbairt ionaid sonraí. Go dtí seo, fuair comhlachtaí teic carte blanche chun pé méid acmhainní gur mian leo a úsáid, beag beann ar an tionchar ar chúrsaí tithíochta, timpeallachta, soláthair fuinnimh agus uisce. I lár géarchéim chostais mhaireachtála, tá sé in am ag comhlachtaí teic a gcion féin a íoc. Cuirfimid ár bpobail agus ár gcaighdeán maireachtála roimh an mbrabús.

Deputies

Hear, hear.

Deputy Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin

I am supporting this motion calling for the introduction of a €500 energy credit for households funded through a fair levy on data centres. As the Minister of State will know, ordinary workers and families continue to struggle with soaring bills while data centres consume almost a quarter of Ireland's electricity. They are driving up household energy bills while paying much lower relative rates than householders.

This is shocking and something over which every Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TD, many of whom are fanatical about data centres and AI, should be shouting their heads off. It is really shocking. According to Eurostat figures published earlier this year, data centres in Ireland pay an average of 19.1 cent per KW for electricity compared to 36.8 cent per KW paid by households.

The company Echelon Data Centres Ireland, which is building two huge data centres in my own backyard, just outside Arklow, had a massive €2.5 billion valuation last year. All these data centres should be paying at least the same price as the rest of us for electricity, and then let us redirect that money to the people who need it, whether that is hard-pressed households in Arklow or elsewhere in Ireland suffering from the cost-of-living crisis. We need to see an end to the discounted energy rates for data centres and a moratorium on the building of any more of these new facilities to protect the national grid and to meet our climate targets.

The Government may claim there is not a cost-of-living crisis anymore but families know differently. Every week, people are paying more for groceries, more for fuel, more for rent and more for energy. Household budgets are stretched to breaking point. Many people are working harder than ever, yet they are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet. We in Sinn Féin have consistently pointed out that the cost-of-living crisis has not gone away and that households still need support with rising energy bills which are among the highest in Europe, as Teachta Doherty mentioned. Many people are now questioning why large energy users are not making a greater contribution through a data centre levy fund towards supporting the grid and helping households with rising costs. The revenue generated could then be ringfenced to provide a €500 energy credit for struggling households.

The message is very simple: ordinary people deserve a fair deal. Those who consume the most energy, that is, big multinational data centres, should make a fair contribution and that contribution should be used to help struggling Irish households with the cost-of-living crisis.

Deputy Sinéad Gibney

I thank Deputy Boyd Barrett and colleagues for bringing forward this motion. The Social Democrats are very proud to support it.

I want to make three key points in my comments. First, data centres are affecting our communities and we have a duty and responsibility as representatives to simply reset the scales. We have all seen research that shows the very people who contact us worried about how to heat their homes are facing higher prices due to the sheer volume of data centres in Ireland. When an industry that has not been kept in check has this kind of impact on ordinary people's lives, it is our job as policymakers to step in and do something about it. We know they provide little direct employment. We know they are part of an immensely profitable and influential sector that can afford to contribute a small portion of those immense profits to mitigate these adverse impacts on ordinary citizens. We know that the public see an unfair system where they are expected to scrape by with skyrocketing electricity costs while the industry that uses 23% of our national electricity, and which is forecast to rise to one third in the next four years, benefits from a system of mates rates. Ní féidir linn glacadh leis go mbeidh ar an ngnáthdhuine fulaingt le costais fuinnimh, costais atá á n-ardú ag na hionaid seo, gan rud éigin a dhéanamh faoi.

We need a genuinely honest conversation on data centres. We see it time and again when reasonable concerns and issues are raised that there is no common sense behind the assertion put forward by both Government and the tech sector that if you do not support unrestricted data centre growth, that means you do not want anyone to have internet, online archives or technology. There is a difference between having a coffee in the morning and having 50 coffees. There is a difference between having some data centres and having so many that they threaten our grid, disrupt our communities and make us a "cautionary tale" according to the United Nations. It is also not acceptable to fudge the numbers around the number of jobs based in data centres to suit their narrative, throwing out reports with outlandish employment claims, like figures of 20,000, that do not acknowledge the majority of those are temporary roles for the people building the data centres. This undermines trust and, frankly, indicates the cold hard facts do not justify data centres being allowed to operate at the scale they do in Ireland.

My final point is that data centres are a tool that have been managed poorly. Many useful or productive things may require data centres but the narrative we need to change is that because a good and useful thing may need a data centre that all data centres are then good and useful. This fable means they get lower electricity rates, the same grade connection priority as a hospital or school, they get to emit noise at night which is waking up people in nearby homes, and this happens regardless of whether they are storing a university repository or powering the generation of AI slop. We have a responsibility to balance what they want and what is good for our society and that is a responsibility that has been neglected for far too long.

Deputy Rory Hearne

I thank People Before Profit for bringing forward this motion which we are supporting. I want to thank Friends of the Earth, which has done incredible work on this in recent months. I highlight the report it has done which shows how much Irish households have been paying for the expansion of data centres. There was €715 million more in electricity bills between 2015 and 2023, and it has identified that Irish households will pay an additional almost €1.5 billion in electricity bills due to data centre growth. While the Government blames war and the Middle East for rising energy costs, on the other hand it is sanctioning the massive increase in data centres which is adding to it.

What we are actually seeing here in Ireland - and we have become a poster child for this across the world - is the grim reality of the AI-driven dystopian future that the big tech trillionaires have for us: data centres expanding across our country at an exponential rate by Meta, Google, Amazon, now consuming more energy than all urban households in the country. What have ordinary people seen as a result? Higher energy costs for families who cannot afford to put food on the table, the guzzling of our water when we had water shortages, eating up our renewable energy and the gobbling up of our infrastructure resulting in delays of much-needed housing delivery in the middle of a housing catastrophe. What does our Government do? The very same thing it did with the vulture funds - roll them in, bow down to them and give them whatever they want and facilitate them with cheaper electricity subsidised by the Irish public. It lifted the moratorium on data centres despite being warned that data centre expansion would make it difficult to meet electricity demand during extreme cold weather.

Will we see families in this country freeze so as to keep data centres running? This is utterly dystopian. Níl sé seo ceart. Teastaíonn rialtas uainn a dhéanann cinntí chun leas na ndaoine seachas leas na gcorparáidí móra. Cabhraigh leis na daoine seachas leis na hionaid sonraí. Electricity bills have increased by 70% in the past five years and they are going to increase more because of data centres. The Social Democrats believe there needs to be a moratorium on data centres. We believe we need to pause and look at the impact they are having and put people, our resources, nature and our communities ahead of what these big tech corporations are pushing. We have to question it and the benefits of AI. We know people are losing their jobs. We have the creation of AI slop so that these data centres expand.

Deputy Aidan Farrelly

I thank colleagues for tabling the motion this evening. It is interesting that we have set the context that much of this is as a result of the war in Ukraine and the war in the Middle East. You would think the energy suppliers would start to feel that struggle as well, yet what we are seeing is record levels of profits among the energy suppliers. It is impossible to defend when you do not know where the attack is coming from. I am sure the Minister of State is hearing the same from people as those of us on this side that everything is going up. Literally everything is going up and we cannot understand why.

When colleagues across the House explain why this is happening, it is blatantly ignored to the extent that the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, just decides that the end of the debate is an hour before the end of the debate. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, for being here. I was at that public meeting in Naas. I do not know when the Minister of State was last in Naas, but Naas is unique for many reasons. One that it is probably not so proud of right now is the fact that it has land zoning specifically for data centre use. I am not aware of any other town in this country where lands are zoned specifically and only for data centres to build on. There is something significantly wrong with that. If nothing else comes from my input today, I ask the Minister of State to convey to the Minister a request to issue a circular to all local authorities to stop zoning land specifically for data centre use. We do not have the infrastructure, we do not have the resources and we are having to deny the fact that we are interfering with economic reports because apparently that is what happened with the Department over the summer. We have significant problems here. In Naas, that is one part of it, and it is a significant worry. We have done our bit in Ireland, and we are far in excess of holding the door open to invite people in, while trying to keep everybody quiet who is suffering at the hands of it. Some 24% of our energy use going to data centres is wrong when we are paying exorbitant fees.

Deputy Eoin Hayes

I welcome this timely motion and its call for a moratorium on data centre development and for electricity credits for families paid for by a tax on corporations. The other week, the energy Minister, as he did today, made the outrageous assertion that data centres are to Ireland what car factories are to Germany. It is a fallacious argument with no merit whatsoever. Instead of creating hundreds of thousands of high-paying jobs like the automotive industry, data centres create a tiny number, as Deputy Murphy outlined. Instead of developing products for export, data centres leach water and energy from all around them. Instead of providing economic activity, data centres merely host electronic transactions captured economically elsewhere. Data centres represent a severe economic threat to the State, and they are cannibalising the economy. Every kilowatt hour spent on a data centre is a kilowatt hour not available to a household or to a productive part of the economy like a pharmaceutical plant creating medicines, or a semiconductor factory. Data centres from one part of the economy, in big tech, are putting critical and important jobs in other productive sectors of the economy, even other foreign direct investment multinationals, at risk by inflating costs and threatening our ability to provide energy to our people and businesses.

I spoke to one businessman in my constituency this morning. He told me his electricity bill has surged 26% and it is now putting his entire business at risk. Data centres now guzzle nearly half of our renewable energy production. Meanwhile, we are, right now, decommissioning our only offshore wind farm, the greatest renewable energy resource that we have. This Government is fuelling its own climate and energy disaster and putting an existential economic, environmental and social risk at the heart of Government policymaking. That should change and it should especially change in light of the climate crisis, an energy crisis and an impending economic crisis. Anything less is negligence in the extreme.

Deputy Ciarán Ahern

I welcome An Coimisiún Pleanála's decision to refuse planning for a data centre in Mayo on climate grounds, so all hope is not lost. I thank People Before Profit Deputies for tabling this really important motion. On behalf of the Labour Party, I brought a relatively similar motion to the House back in June, calling for targeted energy credits funded through a data centre levy as well as the introduction of a moratorium on the new construction of data centres. I did so and I imagine that the Deputies who are bringing forward this motion today did so as well because we recognise that Ireland has a growing problem with the way our energy system is being managed. There is a fundamental question here about who our energy system is being built for, who is paying for it and whether ordinary households and small businesses are getting a fair deal. Ireland has some of the highest electricity costs in Europe. Hundreds of thousands of households are struggling to keep up with their energy bills. We know that more than half a million electricity and gas accounts are in arrears. Yet, at precisely the same time, we see enormous growth in electricity demand from one particular sector, data centres. As is stated in the motion, they accounted for 88% of the increase in demand for electricity since 2015. That is staggering.

As I have said before, I accept that data centres, to a degree, are a part of modern society and our industrial society. They play a part in the digital economy and so on. Whenever any of us raise these concerns about the Government's approach to data centres and the seemingly boundless expansion, we get these kind of strawmen arguments saying that people use phones, social media, and all that kind of rubbish. The Labour Party has never argued that data centres should not exist. We acknowledge their place in modern society, but we have concerns about what is driving the current proliferation of data centres that we are seeing, not just in Ireland but elsewhere too, and the role that the AI race is playing in this. We have to question what data centres are being used for and if we want to support these purposes. We spend a lot of time in this house talking about the dangers of AI, reining in AI and regulating the use of social media so that it does not harm our children.

Why, on the one hand, are we doing that, and on the other hand, are we facilitating and actively encouraging the infrastructure that facilitates all of this? The use to which data centres are being put has to be part of the discussion about whether we want to continue to facilitate them. We have not had that discussion yet. It is not credible for this Government to continue to allow the expansion of data centres without properly considering the consequences for our society, as well as for our electricity system, for our energy prices, for investment elsewhere in our economy, and for our decarbonisation efforts elsewhere in the country. There is a simple principle here. If a particular group of users is creating significant additional costs for the energy system, they should shoulder the burden of those costs - some 88% of the costs, you might say.

That principle is particularly important at a time when households are struggling to pay their bills. The Government cannot ask families to absorb higher energy costs while simultaneously providing an energy system that gives very large energy users preferential treatment. Recent figures show that data centres accounted for 23% of energy consumed in Ireland last year. It is around 50% of the energy consumed in Dublin. This is an extraordinary level of demand from a single sector and it does not show any signs of slowing down. Even when comparisons are made to Germany's heavy industry and the fact that we do not have one, in Germany heavy industry accounts for about 25% of energy use. Data centres are already at that level here and all the trajectories are that in a few years' time, it will be a third. When is that too much? We are going to scale up significantly because the de facto moratorium on new connections for data centres was got rid of last year.

We know the impact that this has already had on household bills. A Friends of the Earth report has shown us that data centre energy demand added hundreds of millions of euro to household electricity bills between 2015 and 2023, with a further €1.5 billion potentially being added over the coming decade. That amounts to about a week's wages for a low-paid worker being added to the bill of every household in the country. We also have the extraordinary situation where households can be paying substantially more for their electricity per unit than large data centres. Fundamentally, if large energy users are placing additional demands on the electricity network, they should be making a contribution that reflects those demands. We should be placing a levy on their energy consumption. It is some form of punishment or some anti-technology or anti-business measure. It is just about basic fairness. It is a fact that data centre demand is contributing to higher system costs and higher electricity prices, so the companies benefiting from that demand should contribute towards the cost. The money raised through such a levy, as the motion here calls for, should be used to help to address the costs being experienced elsewhere in the system, including supports for households struggling with their energy bills.

I might have suggested a more targeted approach for the energy credits than is put forward in this motion, but we are arguing over minutiae here. The principle is the same, and we need to make sure that those who are forcing the country to have these costs are paying their fair share. Hundreds of thousands of households are struggling to keep up with their electricity and gas bills. Their wages are being swallowed up by rent, mortgages, food and transport; take your pick. Energy is just the latest one of those. No one is presenting energy credits as a substitute for fixing Ireland's energy system. That is the other thing to say. Such is the extent of the energy crisis we are in that immediate assistance is desperately needed for households up and down the country while we deal with the underlying problem.

We need to address why our energy is so expensive in the first place. Everyone in the House knows what we need to do, that is, rapidly scale up renewable generation. We are miles and miles off target for our offshore wind generation. We are doing well on solar, but we have to do better on offshore wind. That is where the real gains can be. Electricity demand is skyrocketing precisely because of all the data centres that are being built. If renewable electricity is absorbed almost entirely by the new demand from data centres, then that renewable electricity cannot simultaneously help us electrify transport, decarbonise industry or move households away from fossil fuels. Almost all new renewable energy that is being generated onshore in this country through wind and solar is being gobbled up by data centres. It is affecting our efforts to decarbonise elsewhere in our economy. We cannot ignore that.

While this motion is primarily about energy and affordability, there is an important climate dimension to it as well. We cannot separate the two. A secure energy system has to be a cleaner energy system, and a cleaner energy system has to work for households. The Labour Party supports calls for a moratorium on further data centre expansion until and unless we have sufficient renewable generation and grid capacity to accommodate new demand without putting upward pressure on household bills or undermining our climate objectives. We need to get the fundamentals of our energy system right before we can allow for unfettered increases in demand. Data centres need to make their fair contribution toward both supporting households through the present crisis and in allowing us to build the infrastructure needed to support a transition to a cleaner, more secure energy system for everyone. That is how we build a system that works for the whole country. It does not have to be a choice between economic development and climate action, but we have to carefully manage scarce energy resources and ensure that economic development does not come at the expense of households or our climate.

Deputy Paul Nicholas Gogarty

I support this motion in principle. I have a couple of queries about what is implementable and what is not, but the hard-pressed people of Ireland, faced with rising costs, need a little bit more help in terms of energy prices at the moment while also trying to move toward a more sustainable future. For many years, people in Ireland have been told that our electricity bills, which I think are now the third highest in the European Union, are simply the result of international factors beyond our control. In some ways, that is true. Looking at gas, which I am about to get on to, global gas prices have risen internationally and conflict has contributed to that. The reason we are dependent on gas is because the electricity market operates on the system of marginal pricing, which means that the most expensive form of power needed to meet demand at any given time sets the price for 100% of the market. Right now, we are dependent on fossil gas for that. In the future, it could be different. If I have time, I will outline a couple of suggestions, which may already be in the Government mindset, but it is the pace I am worried about.

Why are we burning so much gas when we have all this existing wind potential? I have mentioned wave and tidal before. The answer right now lies in the uninhibited growth of data centres, which are consuming nearly a quarter of our metered electricity in this State, which matches the usage of every single residential home in Ireland. These data centres are operating 365 days a year, basically. The demand is completely inflexible, so when the wind stops blowing, that baseload does not end up dropping. Instead, we are forced to fire up the gas generators - diesel has, which is also a fossil fuel and has cost implications, has been referenced as well - to keep the data centre servers cool. Under the market rules, the gas does not just price electricity for the tech giants. Rather, it prices electricity for the family trying to heat their home in Clondalkin, Saggart, Rathcoole, Lucan, Adamstown, Brittas, Palmerstown or elsewhere throughout the country. Data centre demand has inflated wholesale electricity prices by up to 8.5%, maybe more, which has put hundreds of euro in extra costs on the average household in recent years as part of a rise in energy and household prices.

We cannot look at data centre policy on its own and energy policy separately. They are together. The current trajectory is placing an unfair tax, for want of a better term, on Irish families to subsidise what is still an unsustainable demand on our grid. If the data centres were not there in the first place, a lot more of our supply would be provided by renewables and we would not have the same dependence on gas. We need to review the data centre grid connections. There is already another application in my constituency for a licence to the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. The message has not gone out to these companies yet, and I do not think it is Government policy to say that it is an unwelcome place for data centres. I have mentioned before the brave new future where we could be producing so much excess capacity that we could afford to operate data centres and be the data centre hub of Europe as one of the major energy producers. There is huge revenue potential, irrespective of the fairly minuscule job creation element associated with them.

As of now, we are going to have to work within Europe to reform the marginal pricing system that is penalising consumers for the corporate energy demands of multinationals. It is penalising the producers of renewable energy, basically. The figures are staggering. When a single sector consumes nearly a quarter of our national electricity and ordinary families face a crushing cost-of-living crisis, it beggars belief. I am kind of lost for words in terms of how to put it, but if you ask an ordinary constituent whether they feel they have been fleeced by data centres, they would say, "Absolutely". They feel they are not getting the support. The Government supports for electricity pricing over the last couple of years were very welcome. The current fuel allowances are very welcome. One half of me says that I do not like subsidising fossil fuels to keep cars and buses going. Another part of me acknowledges that some of the electricity produced is from fossil fuel as well. We need to reduce our dependence on these supplies and reduce our carbon emissions. When you look at what is actually impacting on people in their bottom pocket, you have to take a two-pronged approach. Even if we need to borrow strategically to create that energy self-sufficiency, it will benefit us in the medium term.

I have a couple of queries about the specific mechanisms in this motion in terms of legal hurdles, which give the Government an excuse to do nothing. From the research I have done, a legislative ban would violate Article 49 of the EU treaty on the freedom of establishment. That would leave the State vulnerable to court action and multibillion euro damages claims. This electricity levy to raise the €500 would also violate EU Regulation 2019/943 on non-discriminatory grid access. In terms of ring-fencing money directly for a household credit, that would clash with Article 11 in our own Constitution in terms of where taxes are collected and how they are distributed. However, that does not mean that the sentiment of this motion is not 100% right. We have to find a work-around so that we do not have legalese blocking Government action.

To achieve the goals through legally enforceable pathways, there might be a couple of other approaches, such as legally codifying the strictest possible version of the CRU's large energy users policy and mandating that no data centre can connect to the grid unless it has its own off-grid supply of battery storage and is relying 100% on renewables. Personally, I do not think any new data centre should be built for the next ten years until we get to a point where we are more comfortable in our energy generation. We could still levy some corporation tax off these companies, as it stands, to make sure that Irish families get some sort of a subsidy.

We are at a critical juncture in terms of our energy self-sufficiency and our potential. What would get rid of our dependence on gas as the baseline? If we put the investment in, mass battery storage would be one element to store all the daytime wind, solar, tidal and wave, which we are not even properly investing in, and replace the gas plants during evening peaks. The creation of new interconnectors would create further links to France and the UK.

If we have to import cheap nuclear or solar power from Spain when the domestic wind is low, so be it. Until we get to the point where we are producing three or four times our actual needs, it will be a quid pro quo and we will benefit from that. That means we have to overbuild our own capacity for wind as well as for tidal and wave so that the grid is always renewable no matter what. Even on low-wind days when we are taking the solar from Spain, the pricing will be fixed in such a way that it is not dependent on fossils to set it. We could look at fixed-price contracts to have steady lower rates of renewable developers for decades. That could be done at EU level, bypassing the market price on a day-to-day basis for fossil fuels.

While it would be more expensive to implement now, green hydrogen is also a solution. Once you get to the point where you have built your hydrogen infrastructure and it is produced from excess renewables then the hydrogen can also replace gas to make sure we do not have any kind of winter blackouts. I am foreseeing that will be a possible solution for the 2030s and as we move into the 2040s, if we put the investment in. As Deputy Heneghan has so eloquently said so often, we have to get the grid right and allow the private generators and home generators to access and share the energy and have a more sustainable individual, local grid as well as having one big national one that is upscaled for renewable generation off the west coast which is not the case now. If we put in all that work, which will cost tens of billions, that will reap rewards. We will be the energy Arabs of Europe in the 2040s at a time when other countries will need access to that energy, not only for heating and transport but also for cooling depending on how the climate change situation goes. It will all be renewable and will have lowered our carbon emissions to virtually nothing. We have the potential if we have the vision.

Deputy Barry Heneghan

I thank an Teachta Gogarty for describing me as eloquent. I thank People Before Profit for bringing this issue before the Dáil. Electricity and electricity affordability is probably my favourite topic to discuss. I studied engineering in DCU for five years and my thesis was on waste heat utilisation from data centres. Sometimes I hear people in this House speaking about data centres and the water they use. They are not looking at the statistics. I am not defending that they do use a lot of water but I note the recent Uisce Éireann report gave a figure of 0.3%. A lot of that water is in-house. With my politics, I am always talking about the current problem we face and what solutions we can bring. In the case of data centres, and this is already being done in Tallaght, we can use waste heat from data centres for a district heating system using a central pump to supply heat at a reduced cost to nearby buildings. I would love to see that being done at a faster rate. I commend everyone at district heating Ireland on the work they are doing.

I support 100% the parts of the motion on electricity affordability especially those referring to disabled people, those with long-term illnesses and carers. In relation to protecting jobs, the next budget needs to support businesses in retrofitting, transitioning and installing renewables. This is particularly needed for SMEs and local businesses as rising energy costs have affected a lot of businesses. I will continue to push for this.

For households, electricity is often essential for medical equipment. That equipment cannot simply be switched off and is often life-saving. However, I will not support the motion. It is not that I do not share the concerns about households but I do not support the motion’s call for a blanket ban on new data centres. I am not persuaded that the proposed levy provides a sound basis for recurring household support but am reminded of the old saying: “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day; teach him how to fish, feed him for life”. Rather than provide a once-off €500 electricity credit, for the same price you could provide nearly every household with a plug-in solar system. In conjunction with a battery, that would have a ten-year lifespan and would constantly reduce a household’s energy bill. This would be in circuit, built in. I agree hardship does not require us to agree on this, but while what is outlined in the motion and the €500 credit would provide immediate relief, what we should do is invest in all reliefs for what will come in the future.

We need immediate protection and also lasting change. That is what a plug-in solar system, investment in batteries and the grid and decentralising our grid, and investing in green hydrogen, as Deputy Gogarty said, would do. Ireland is in a unique position because of our seabed and the potential of ORE. If another country such as Germany, which was mentioned here multiple times, had the potential we have it would seize it. From looking at records, I understand we had a lot of plans for our ORE. Sadly, the crash occurred and many of those fell through. We did have the only successful sale of an ORE system in the EU last year off the coast.

I do not agree with a current one-off payment. I would like to see multiple payments for plug-in solar, batteries and smarter grids. We could give a €400 electrical readiness credit towards assessments. I do not want that to be used as a gazumping method by electricians as we have seen with BER ratings and solar installations. I am thinking of a €400 electrical readiness credit by an electrical contractor so that they could make changes to protective devices in the fuse-box for a plug-in solar system, or maybe change one breaker to make every house compatible or make apartment buildings compatible. We might change the laws to make it compulsory that every single apartment dwelling be allowed to use plug-in solar or have solar systems on the rooftops. If we do not allow people who are renting to have access to renewable energy that is not a fair society. We can see what Germany has done very successfully with plug-in solar systems. There were witnesses on this before the climate and energy committee before recess. If we are going to do a pilot scheme of these systems, low-income households should have priority as well as elderly people and those with a disability and there should be a workable arrangement for renters.

There needs to be proper discussion of battery storage in the House. Before recess, I invited Energy Storage Ireland to speak in the audiovisual room. We had a great discussion on the potential of batteries to act as storage systems for the curtailment and dispatch down that we see constantly. That needs to be addressed. A panel can generate electricity when the sun shines and a wind turbine when the wind blows but a battery can help a household to use that electricity when it is needed. If used smartly batteries can be used when the cost is higher. If they are used as needed, smartly and with new systems being used with these batteries, it can really help people who are struggling.

The headline warnings I saw recently regarding electricity underline how solar export payments need a clearer policy. If people have invested thousands of euro in solar systems in the belief that they will be able to sell back to the grid at a certain price, but other EU countries are warning that the price for selling it back to the grid will be reduced, that is something our Government needs to look at now. Those reports have already been brought to the climate and energy committee and I look forward to discussing them with my colleagues.

I have already brought forward a Bill on data centres and what I would like to see being done at a faster rate. If data centres or any large energy user, LEU, across the country had an easier route to use solar, renewables or hydrotreated vegetable oil, HVO, to supply on-site generation at an easier rate, it would be very beneficial for them and that would in turn benefit the Irish public.

It will not make sense to anyone who is struggling at the moment to hear about solar farms or wind farms waiting months for a connection. The CRU needs to examine this. It also needs to examine the tariffs so that they reflect the value of exported electricity and where customers can benefit from choosing their input and export providers separately like in any market.

I spoke to professors in DCU and UCD during the week, and this needs to be done.

I refer to data centres, the Government-commissioned study and the jobs associated with construction that have been referred to. Some of my friends work in that industry, including in the supply chain of development, construction and the wider spending effects. Some of those jobs in data centres are not permanent but they do represent a significant economic activity.

Ireland's wider multinational economy has supported this and continues to do so, but not every single project is justified. Looking at the programme for Government, one of the things I was very happy to have helped negotiate was that data centres should be encouraged to use renewable energy. I favour and will continue to favour the use of renewable energy. I do not think a blanket ban can distinguish between projects on that basis. Likewise, as regards the 20% levy, while a levy should be examined, this one should not immediately be examined without a discussion that ultimately speaks to investment and the tax revenue of this country.

I will speak about my electricity regulation Bill for the last minute I have. I believe that it will help connect additional renewable energy to the nearby demand, not only for data centres but also for energy sharing for a school that has solar panels and in the summer needs to share that energy that it is not using with a nearby nursing home or GAA club. We have one DSO. We need multiple DSOs, like other countries, because an energy monopoly is not good. I welcome the Government's emphasis on permanent supports; now I want delivery. Those proposals need eventually to face measurable results. I favour the immediate help and I hope that in the coming months we see plug-in solar rolled out, like the UK Government did on 27 August. Also, I would like clarity from the Department on whether, if someone is to order a plug-in solar system and plug it in now, that makes them a criminal for wanting to reduce their electricity bills.

I commend and welcome the discussion on the motion. I always love to debate energy in this House.

Minister of State at the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport (Deputy Charlie McConalogue)

I thank Deputy Heneghan and the many other Deputies across the House for their contribution to this debate and for the welcome opportunity, through the motion put forward by Deputy Boyd Barrett, to discuss the pressures households are facing as a result of very high energy costs.

The Government is deeply aware of and concerned about the pressures placed on households and businesses by high energy costs. Providing supports to alleviate this pressure has been and will continue to be a priority. The Government is taking action to help households and businesses with the cost of fuel and energy and has been proactive in introducing support measures on fuel costs and supports for the transport, farming and fisheries sectors. This is in addition to the range of measures in budget 2026 aiming to help households with energy costs, which included extending the reduced VAT rate on gas and electricity, enhanced social protection payments and record funding for Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland retrofit schemes. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, earlier outlined the significant funding made available for retrofit schemes and the increased number of applications. The benefit of even simple upgrades like adding insulation, cavity wall or external wall insulation, cannot be dismissed. It can improve the warmth and comfort of the home while reducing energy costs.

The Minister has engaged with energy suppliers and the energy regulator to ensure that consumers, particularly vulnerable customers, are protected. The CRU has a wide range of protections in place for customers experiencing difficulties in paying their bills. Each year, it carries out a review on the effectiveness of customer protection measures over the past winter as well as deciding the measures to be retained for the forthcoming winter. Some of the key measures that remained in place over recent years included a disconnection moratorium, reduced debt repayments and discounted tariffs for customers on financial hardship meters. The CRU will publish measures in the coming weeks, ahead of this winter. Anyone who is struggling with their bill is strongly encouraged to engage with their supplier. Suppliers will not disconnect customers who engage.

It is also important to note that switching supplier or plan could save the average electricity customer hundreds of euro on an annual electricity bill. I strongly encourage consumers to seek out the best prices available.

With regard to high energy prices, there are relevant structural factors. Ireland is import dependent for energy, making it particularly vulnerable to price volatility in the wholesale gas market. Ireland's isolated island location, low levels of interconnection, widely dispersed low-density population and reliance on fossil fuels are also important price determinants.

Energy is central to every social and economic activity in Ireland, but we remain too dependent on imported fossil fuels. The energy crisis caused by the conflict in the Middle East highlights why we must reduce our reliance on imported fossil fuels and develop our own energy through our security and strength. As an island nation with limited fossil fuel reserves, this means developing our own abundant renewable energy resources and deepening our interconnection with trusted European peers. The national energy affordability task force has been established by the Government to identify, assess and implement measures that will enhance energy affordability for households and businesses while delivering key renewable commitments and protecting security of supply and economic stability. The first report of the task force, published last November, set out measures for consideration in the budget 2026 process. The task force is working intensively on an energy affordability action plan, which will be submitted to the Government in the coming weeks.

Data centres are a critical component of Ireland's economic and digital present and future and a key part of our value proposition for foreign direct investment. Data centres strengthen Ireland's position as a strategic knowledge-intensive regional hub for the ICT sector and support broader retention and expansion of existing investment that supports billions in annual economic value for Ireland via high-wage employment, tax receipts and supplier ecosystems. Ireland's industrial electricity demand is primarily concentrated in our digital economy. This is our core energy-intensive industry and should be regarded as such. It is evident that future economic opportunities will be underpinned by energy-intensive digitalisation. The Government believes that these opportunities should be capitalised on in a planned and sustainable manner in line with Ireland's decarbonisation, energy security and affordability objectives.

The Government's large energy user action plan, LEAP, published in January of this year, supports this. It sets out a plan-led approach for very large and energy-intensive investments, which, due to scale and energy consumption, will benefit from co-ordinated national infrastructure planning. LEAP represents a key strategic industrial policy in support of the Government's objective to accelerate renewable deployment, expedite grid investment and streamline planning for the next wave of industrial development.

Alongside LEAP, the CRU large energy user connection policy establishes a pathway for new data centres to seek connection to the electricity system that addresses security-of-supply risks and system constraints and promotes renewable energy targets. Electricity network tariffs are set every year by the CRU to recover the cost of developing, operating and maintaining the electricity grid. They fund a grid that is more resilient to storms and supplies electricity to a growing population, new housing and expanding businesses. Extra-large energy users like data centres have in recent years seen large increases in network costs, with an average increase of 175% compared with a 45% increase for domestic customers between 2020 and 2026. The Government remains committed to delivering a balanced approach to facilitate data centre demand while also ensuring overall energy security and affordability for consumers and businesses.

The Government will continue to actively monitor the current geopolitical situation and the impact on energy markets and remains ready to respond as circumstances evolve. Again, I thank Deputies from across the House for their contributions today. However, I do not accept the motion before the House and present the Government's countermotion in its place.

Deputy Brian Stanley

The debate we are having here is a very important one. It is probably the most important one that is in the Dáil this week for the simple fact that energy, how it is charged for, how it is priced, who has access to it and who generates it will be a key issue as we move forward. By any standard, we are in an extraordinary situation because of the extraordinary number of data centres we have compared with other EU countries - ten times more, on average.

We must take into account that a lot of American states are now resisting the location of data centres in them. Ireland is becoming the favoured home for them and now we have 120. I am not saying that data centres are a bad thing per se, but this is a really extraordinary situation, and it is going to become worse. The Government will highlight the jobs, and there are some jobs, but it is a few thousand jobs. It is not the tens of thousands of jobs the Minister is outlining as permanent jobs in these data centres. That is the reality.

If you look at the usage of electricity, almost a quarter of our electricity publicly available on the grid is now going to supply data centres. That is due to rise to over 30% in the coming four to five years. Data centres are using the same amount of electricity as over 2 million households in the State. It is putting huge pressure on the grid and the Government knows that. It is creating pressure for demand and putting huge pressure for investment. The grid is simply not able to take what is there. Who is footing the bill for the upgrade? Householders are shouldering the heaviest burden because they are paying the highest for electricity, almost double what the data centres are paying. They are paying a grid improvement levy as well. A recent Friends of the Earth report estimates that households forked out an additional €263 from 2021 to 2023 to pay for the additional costs of the load being put on the grid and usage by data centres.

On the costs, we are told by successive Government analyses that creating so-called competition in the electricity market would lower prices. This is what we were told back in the eighties and nineties. We have the competition now, but we have highest prices. We used to have one of the lowest. We had the third or fourth lowest in the European Union. We were almost at the bottom at one stage. Now we are at the top of it. When the ESB was the sole supplier we had the cheapest rate in the EU. The competition worked the opposite way because there is a profit margin. Who has the profit margin? The owners of the large electricity companies have it. I do not have a problem with the ESB because we owned it. However, the facts are the other ones in the so-called market are creaming it off. On average we are paying 38% higher prices than other EU states and the average across Europe. The Government needs to introduce a consumption levy, and it certainly needs to be considered on data centres. They are getting cut-price electricity. They are making large profits. It can be done.

We need to start thinking about low- and middle-income households. Government is fond of talking about people who get up every morning, middle Ireland and everything else. I think middle Ireland are households on less than €75,000 gross. We need to improve the solar panel grants for homes so people can afford them, and grade the cost as income goes down in a household so those with lower incomes get the best benefit or get it free altogether. Certainly, we need to target workers in what Government likes to talk about as the middle-income bracket.

We need to introduce plug-in solar. That can be done. For low-income households in particular, solar is a quick and easy win to reduce the amount of electricity being used. That is a key issue here. Along with reducing the price rate we need to reduce the amount being used. We need to accelerate and increase the number of homes being retrofitted. I will make one point to the Minister of State. I was contacted by the principal of a national school yesterday morning. The school got solar panels in the past two years. It is concerned now by reports that it will not get paid for the electricity it is feeding back into the grid. It is not going to get the credits on that. The Minister of State might take that away for the Government to deal with because a lot of people added solar panels on the basis that it was going to reduce the cost of the amount they were using themselves, and to sustainably generate a bit of electricity. They are selling that to companies, and now the private companies are going to get that for free. The point he is making is that the Government subsidised it and householders paid for it as well. Government and householders paid for it. Is it now going to be fed back into grid for the private companies to receive free of charge and make super profits on it? It is perverse what is going to happen. Government needs to take that into account, particularly the schools situation and that of householders. I ask the Minister of State to take that back to his Government colleagues to get it dealt with because we should not allow that to happen. People put them up in good faith and we should not break that faith with people.

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

I start by saying this to everybody who is impacted by the cost-of-living crisis, the cost of energy, childcare, the failure of wages to keep pace with the cost of living, inflation, the cost of groceries and by the inequity we see highlighted in this motion and to those who are suffering as a result of the cost-of-living crisis as opposed to those who are profiteering out of it, they should get out on the streets this weekend and demand a change in this Government's priorities in advance of the budget. Those who are doing that will be assembling at the Garden of Remembrance at 1 o'clock in the Affordable Ireland demonstration. The reason they should do it is because the Government, despite the fact that it has a three and a half page amendment in response to our motion explaining why it is not going to accept our motion, fails to answer or address in any serious way, or at all, the central point of the motion. Why is it that data centres owned by some of richest people in the world, making extraordinary profits, are paying half the rate per unit of electricity as is being paid by ordinary working people and householders who are being hammered with the cost of living? How could that be, and why is the Government going to maintain that status quo? That in effect means those who are struggling to pay their energy bills are subsidising the data centres whose owners are making obscene profits while those data centres are directly contributing to the inability of households to pay their bills.

We now have a credible estimate that 8.5% of your electricity bill is as a result of data centres hoovering up the electricity and making you pay more while they pay half the rate. One could not make it up, but of course it speaks to something wider in this country. There is no cost-of-living crisis for the big corporations, the multinationals and speculators and the super-rich. They are profiting from the cost-of-living misery that ordinary people are suffering and the Government is maintaining this status quo. Even if it has dire consequences for the environment and the economic well-being of ordinary people, it is determined to maintain that unjust status quo.

If the plight of people struggling with the cost of living does not move this Government, it should maybe consider what newspapers like the Financial Times are saying because all of this is infrastructure for AI. The Financial Times is now saying that the entire American economy is one big gamble on AI, and we are now being told by the AI tech bros that it could destroy humanity. By the way, that is scaremongering at one level, but anybody seriously looking at it knows it is because the AI bubble may be about to burst and they are looking for a bailout. Yet again, they are looking for a bailout so that ordinary people will pay the bill. Our economy, more than any other, is a big gamble on AI and the tech bros. That is a very dangerous thing for the future of our economy and ordinary people are again picking up the bill. It is obvious the Government is not listening and is committed to putting the tech bros and billionaires before the needs of ordinary people and that is why we need to get out on the streets this weekend, and why the workers balloting for strike action are absolutely right to do so.

Amendment put.

An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach (Deputy Marie Sherlock)

In accordance with Standing Order 85(2), the division is postponed until the next weekly division time.

Dáil Éireann debate - Thursday, 17 Sep 2026

Energy Policy: Motion [Private Members]

Deputies

Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 17 Sep 2026