Data centres using more electricity than Dublin and Meath combined

Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan has launched a new billboard campaign highlighting the impact of data centres on housing availability and energy affordability across the county.

A European Commission report revealed how rising electricity demand from AI and data centres is placing additional pressure on the infrastructure needed for new homes, while also contributing to higher bills.

Boylan said that Ireland now has a “disproportionate” concentration of data centres compared to other European countries, and warned that negative impacts in Dublin are “not sustainable.”

With Ireland gearing up to host the EU presidency in July, Boylan said that Ireland should take the opportunity to raise the issue with their European counterparts.

She said that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael must “take a stand” at an EU level, stating that energy and planning policy must “prioritise affordability, housing, and the needs of local communities – not just big tech.”

Discussing the billboard campaign, Boylan said that the idea was to communicate to the public that data centres are making the housing crisis worse.

“The rapid expansion of data centres is placing enormous pressure on our electricity system, outcompeting ordinary people for infrastructure that should be used to build homes,” she explained.

Pointing to the development of a data centre in Grangecastle, Boylan said that a proposed electricity upgrade to the grid was “completely swamped” by the demands of data centres

Boylan remarked, “it’s crazy that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael continue to roll out the red carpet for data centres in a housing crisis.”

Research conducted by Boylan’s office found that data centres in Dublin now use as much electricity as all of Dublin and Meath combined.

“We all know that renewable energy is the cheapest form of electricity and the less fossil fuels we use, the cheaper bills will be, but data centres are preventing renewables from going towards lowering bills.”

2024 research from the University of Cork found that electricity from every wind turbine that was connected since 2017 has since gone towards powering new data centres.

“This campaign is about putting people first. Our public resources should serve people, not just the demands of big tech,” Boylan said.