Government must end “open-door” policy for data centres, says Ahern

Labour climate spokesperson Ciarán Ahern TD has called on the government to commission an independent cost-benefit analysis of its data centre policy.

Figures provided to the Dublin South-West TD, by Uisce Éireann, showed that water consumption among data centres connected to the public supply more than doubled during the hot summer months.

Ahern said, “these figures expose the contradiction at the heart of government policy. During unusually hot weather, households were asked to conserve water and abide by a hosepipe ban. At the very same time, data centres connected to the public supply more than doubled their water consumption.”

Ahern stated, “this is about basic fairness. Water is a precious resource and, during prolonged dry spells, it is reasonable to ask all of us to be more careful about how we use it. But Government cannot ask families to change their behaviour while apparently accepting a huge increase in consumption from some of the biggest companies in the world.”

“It also speaks to a much bigger question about the government’s open-door approach to data centres. We need an honest assessment of what continued expansion means for Ireland, rather than an exercise designed to justify a policy the government has already decided to pursue.”

Ahern said “the government’s own report on the economic impact of data centres simply does not provide that. It failed to properly examine the wider costs and trade-offs associated with continued expansion, including the impact on our electricity system, household bills, infrastructure investment and the renewable energy available to decarbonise other parts of our economy.”

He noted “we also do not have the full picture on water use. These figures cover 57 data centres identified as connected to Uisce Éireann’s public supply. There are other data centres operating in Ireland, yet there is still no clear public picture of where all of them source their water or how much they consume.”

“That lack of transparency makes an independent assessment even more important. This debate should not be reduced to whether data centres alone are putting our water supplies under strain. The question is whether the cumulative costs and benefits of continued, rapid expansion stack up for the country as a whole.

The Labour climate spokesperson said “the government must now commission a genuinely independent cost-benefit analysis of its data centre policy, examining the impact on energy, water, infrastructure, household bills and our climate targets. If Ministers want to continue giving the green light to further expansion, they must make the case based on all of the evidence, not a Government-drafted report that tells them what they want to hear.”