I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward this important and timely motion. Global digital transformation and accelerated AI technology adoption are driving a rapid expansion of data centres in Ireland. While data centres are one part of the infrastructure for business operations, they pose significant social and environmental concerns. Ireland's current power grid cannot support the energy demands that data centres require. We know that they use up a tremendous amount of energy, currently at 22% of Ireland's electricity. Our current available renewable capacity cannot meet this demand, which is only going to result in higher prices for consumers. It is described as the data centre effect. The average household paid €360 extra in additional energy costs between 2015 and 2023 due to the pressure that data centres are exerting on the grid. It is estimated that consumers could pay up to €644 extra between 2025 and 2034 if data centres continue to expand at this rate. The current solution to reduce grid strain is to use dispatchable generation or back-up generators. These generators are often gas-powered, release emissions and, therefore, undermine our climate goals. It is most likely that there will be even more reliance on these generators in the future as data centre infrastructure continues to outpace renewable infrastructure. In 2022, my colleague Eamon Ryan introduced the Government's statement on the role of data centres and the result of this was that there were no new data centre connections to the grid after that intervention. Yet now, through the large energy user action plan, the Government is actively trying to source more AI data centres in our country. On 2 June, just a few weeks ago, a 600 acre data centre was granted planning permission by Westmeath County Council. That data centre is expected to rely primarily on gas-powered solid oxide fuel cells and solar power. The data centre, and this is from its own application, is expected to omit 493,0000 tonnes of CO2 per annum, again actively undermining our climate goals. As well as the energy concerns, there is also deep concern about the amount of water used. Right now, it is about 1.3% of Uisce Éireann's annual water but that is only set to grow.

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