Ireland is being colonized by Big Tech - colonisation which is being actively promoted by our Government. Datacentres for Google, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft are spreading like an aggressive cancer across the country, guzzling energy and water and using land that could be reserved for nature or for housing or for growing food.
And for what noble purpose does the Government agree to dedicate these precious resources to data centres, you ask? To train AI in warfare and surveillance, to attack democracy, for online gambling, child porn, cryptocurrency and who knows what else - in addition to the more benign activities like streaming Netflix. And to make huge profits for big tech!
Data centres use a huge amount of electricity - 23% of the electricity on Ireland’s National Grid in 2025 - the highest per capita in the world! And their off-the-charts energy use is making it impossible for the country’s energy sector to stay within our Paris-Agreement-aligned budget.
About 80% of Ireland’s energy, for power, heat and transport, is still from fossil fuels - not renewables. Data centres are in effect diverting new renewable energy to serving demand growth rather than displacing fossil fuels. And the Government is trying to feed this growth by building new fossil fuel infrastructure in the form of a terminal in Clare to import Liquefied “Natural” Gas (LNG) and to allow another LNG terminal to be established on the Kerry side of the estuary.
More datacentres means a more unsafe future in which the worst climate chaos scenarios are unleashed.
Datacentres are also making energy bills higher for Irish households, because their huge energy demand increases wholesale electricity costs.
And don’t think for a minute that because you have a smart phone or watch streaming videos that you’d be hypocritical to oppose new datacentres! Your smart phone usage is highly unlikely to be anywhere near as resource-intensive as the training of AI, for instance.
how to resist DATA CENTRES:
Contact your TDs and senators - especially those in Government; tell them you’re against any more data centres and that you expect regulations to be put in place to require full transparency around existing datacentres. See https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/ for their contact info.
Send a letter to the relevant council opposing datacentre planning permission. Datacentres need planning permission and developers are required to publicly announce their planning application. There’s usually a 30 day period allowed for this and a fee of €20.
Talk to your friends and family about datacentres and take action with them! Maybe just start small. Brainstorm, use your imagination, get creative and have fun with it. Taking action is especially important if you live near the site of a proposed datacentre and the earlier in the planning process you get involved, the better!
Do you align with XR Ireland’s Principles & Values? If so, we welcome you to get involved in direct action with us. Direct action is especially needed when a datacentre has been approved in the planning system but not yet built. Register for one of the upcoming Welcome to XRI online orientations listed on our Join page.