Ireland should use EU presidency to push back against data centres, says Boylan

The latest figures from the CRU show an “alarmingly” high number of people remain in energy debt, according to Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan.

While there was a small drop to 315,000 homes in arrears, from 319,000 homes in the last report, this is still the second highest number since the invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, Boylan noted.

However, not only has the number of homes in arrears for more than 90 days remained high, the value of those arrears has gone up to €476.95.

Lynn Boylan, the Sinn Féin MEP for Dublin, has said that while there were small drops in some of the figures, these were an outrageously high number of homes left falling behind on their energy bills.

“These figures are still beyond belief,” she said, noting “there are 33% more people in arrears than the same point last year.”

The fact these figures don’t take the impact of the energy price spikes caused by Trump’s attacks on Iran is a real concern, she noted.

“It has taken a global fuel and energy crisis for the government to announce any sort of half measure support to people – and it doesn’t go nearly far enough.”

“At a time when the government has money to cut taxes for private jets, this will be doubly insulting.”

“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael need to get serious about helping workers and families that are drowning in energy debt by tackling the core issues driving this crisis,” she said.

Boylan said that the government should use Ireland’s presidency of the EU to push for the “decoupling of electricity from fossil fuels, to improve our grid for households instead of just data centres and push back against the soaring demand from data centres who are also driving up energy prices here”.