20th November 2024, 10 am at RDS, Dublin, as seated conference goers looked on, a group of climate activists from Extinction Rebellion Ireland (XRI) disrupted Data Centres Ireland's annual conference, by interrupting keynote speaker Barry Lowry. Mr Lowry is the Chief Information Officer for the Irish Government. His talk was titled 'A contextual commentary on AI's contribution to Ireland's data centres industry.' Activists stood up in front of the stage and chanted messages including "We don't want AI Taking Palestinian lives" and ''Genocidal projects, Lavender and Nimbus". The chants reflect that AI is being used for nefarious and unlawful purposes. The group demands a moratorium on data centres in Ireland, as they already use 21% of the country's electricity and many are investing in on-site, private fossil-fuel generation.
Simultaneously a larger group from XRI linked arms in front of the building entrances, impeding conference goers' entry to the annual data centre conference. They blocked the doors holding banners between them and chanting their demands for a moratorium on the building of new data centres. The protestors remained in place until threatened with arrest. They then joined Friends of the Earth Ireland, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Not Here Not Anywhere and others in protesting outside the gates of the RDS, holding banners reading "No More Data Centres,'' and "Moratorium now".
This is the third time XRI has targeted this conference, to draw attention to the rapid growth of data centres in Ireland, which they say is incompatible with climate action. Ireland currently has 92 data centres in operation, and this year their electricity usage overtook the total amount used by Irish households. The total electricity usage of data centres has risen from 5% of Ireland's grid in 2015 to 21% in 2023. The EU average for this figure is 2%. 1, 2
Protestor Thomas Morelli, an apprentice mechanic from Dublin said, 'The ongoing genocide of Palestine is being facilitated and worsened by the development of AI. Project NIMBUS and Project Lavender are two examples. Ireland also exports a considerable amount of data storage space to Israeli entities - this is unacceptable and inhumane'
Protestor, Tom Spillane, a student from Limerick said, "The growth of data centres here is out of control. Of course a certain amount of the data stored in data centres is important. However, the vast majority of the data is 'junk data' - approximately 90% of it is digital junk, used for advertising stuff we don't even need and for mass user surveillance.''
He continued, 'We have to press pause on the growth of data centres. The energy demands of data centres are running rampant and our grid has reached capacity. The government has been allowing data centres to build their own private gas-fired power stations to power them under the "Private Wires" programme. This is outrageous."
Protestor Maureen O'Connor, a retired teacher living in Newbridge said, 'The continued and accelerated development of data centres in Ireland is devastating. There is no chance of us meeting our EU 2030 energy reduction targets with continued development of data centres in Ireland. This will result in billions of Euros in fines, which the taxpayer will pay the brunt of, while big techs profits will continue to soar.'
Fiachra, an XRI protester and agriculture worker from Dublin, said "The growth in AI is causing a huge energy demand at a time when we need to be focusing on degrowth to transition away from fossil fuels. All the renewable energy generation Ireland has developed in the past year has immediately been far outstripped by the growth in data centres and their power usage, making them incompatible with climate action."
Fiachra continued, "Many of the societal effects of AI seem to only contribute to further wealth concentration, insecure working conditions and privacy violations. We have to ask are any of the benefits of this technology worth jeopardising our chances of a liveable future?"
1. https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/libraryResearch/2024/2024-07-23_spotlight-data-centres-and-energy_en.pdf
2. https://bitpower.ie/images/Reports/2024_Q4_Market_Update_Ireland_v1-2.pdf
- END -
EXTINCTION REBELLION ACTIVISTS GLUE THEMSELVES TO MANSION HOUSE ENTRANCES DISRUPTING BLACK-TIE DINNER FOR TRILLION EURO FOSSIL FUEL FUNDERS
Dinner-goers forced to use back entrance as activists demand asset management member organisations stop funding fossil fuels
9th May 2024, Mansion House, Dublin: From 7:15pm, there was confusion and anger among guests arriving for the Irish Funds Industry Association's annual members' dinner at the Round Room as they found the entrances blocked by Extinction Rebellion Ireland (XRI) activists. Event-goers were forced to use the back door as protestors swarmed the main entrances holding banners reading "STOP FUNDING CLIMATE CHAOS" and "CLIMATE EMERGENCY". Other protestors drummed and chanted, "A trillion euros in coal and oil, divest now before we boil". Their demand was that the many asset management companies that are members of the Irish Funds Industry Association (Irish Funds) divest from fossil fuels - investments that, as of January 2023, totalled over $1.23 trillion (€1.14 trillion at the then exchange rate)*.
The Irish Funds member companies with the largest investments in fossil fuels were singled out for the strongest criticism. These included the top three - Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street - which alone accounted for $267 billion, $261 billion and $133 billion respectively of the total fossil fuel investments. Irish Funds also counts many of the so-called “Dirty Dozen” banks as members, including JP Morgan Chase and Citi. The “Dirty Dozen” are 12 banks that dominate the financing of fossil fuels.
At the Dawson Street gate, two activists dressed as dinner-goers had their hands glued together and the other hand glued to the gate. Another activist was glued to a side entrance. To gain access to the Round room for the 7:15 pre-dinner drinks and 8pm dinner, event-goers were forced to walk to the back of the building and enter through a back entance.
One of the glued-on activists, "Nan", a retired school principal from Westmeath said, "We won't stay quiet and let these people sit around wining and dining in their fancy suits and gowns, congratulating themselves on how rich they've gotten from selling off the future of our planet. If they want to keep making money out of fossil fuels then we're not going to make it easy for them. It's too bad if we ruin their swanky dinner plans - sure they could always try the takeaway round the corner if they don't want a quiet meal - they do a great spice bag. And maybe they can spare a thought for the millions suffering from the food shortages and famines that their investments in fossil fuels are already causing."
Following recent successes brought about by prolonged and intense pressure from campaigners, such as the announcement by Barclays Bank that it will stop direct financing of new fossil fuel projects, XRI continues to target large financial institutions demanding divestment from fossil fuels.
Father of three, and tech worker, Seán Loughran, who was glued on at a side entrance said, "For decades, Irish Funds members like JP Morgan Chase and BlackRock have funded fossil fuel projects despite all the science we have on their destructive impact. Barclays didn't decide to stop financing fossil fuels because their shareholders suddenly grew a conscience. No, it was down to people out on the street applying pressure trying to make a difference. But we need loads more people getting out there. We all need to work together to put a halt to runaway climate change, to fight for our future and our children's future."
Father of two, stay-at-home parent, and writer Oran Doyle said, "I find it astonishing that, even though the International Energy Agency warned in 2021 that there can be no new investments in oil, gas and coal if we're to reach net zero emissions by 2050, these companies are still doing it. They're investing in new projects and in exploring for additional oil and gas reserves. They know that these reserves can't be used without blowing past our remaining carbon budget for 1.5 degrees, but it's still happening."
Ireland has experienced a number of extreme weather events over the past year, with record rainfall attributed to increased sea temperatures in the North Atlantic. Recent research has shown that rainfall intensity in Ireland is increasing at a rate of 8.2% per degree of global warming. Globally, every month since last June has been the warmest such period on record. Last month, the long-term trend of human-caused global warming was cited as a factor for the heavy rainfall which devastated the North-western region of Kenya killing 71 people.
Protestor and software engineer, Juan José Perez, whose family in Colombia have been affected by both flooding and water scarcity, said, "The thought of some of the biggest global asset management companies that are funding climate destruction sitting down to wine and dine with their cronies is sickening. The contrast between this elite, black-tie affair and the carnage being wreaked by climate disasters is overwhelming. We have to disrupt these companies and take away their social license to force them to divest from fossil fuels. We will continue to be loud and disruptive until these companies stop derailing our future by funding fossil fuels."
Besides driving the climate crisis, according to the Global Energy Monitor, new oil and gas developments are also at high risk of becoming stranded assets — meaning premature or unanticipated closing, due to market or other forces.
Today's action follows XRI protests demanding divestment from fossil fuels in March at the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland conference and in 2023 at the Dublin offices of BlackRock, J P Morgan and CitiBank.
Resources:
*The €1.14 trillion figure is calculated from data on Irish Funds member organisation investments in coal, oil and gas companies listed on the Global Coal Exit List (GCEL) or the Global Oil & Gas Exit List (GOGEL). Data was collected in January 2023 and aggregated on group level (see Resource 1).
(1) https://investinginclimatechaos.org/data
(2) https://www.bankingonclimatechaos.org/
(4) https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/barclays-adopt-fresh-curbs-oil-gas-financing-2024-02-09/
(6) https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/humans-are-changing-irelands-climate-maynooth-research/
(7) https://www.thejournal.ie/global-temperature-streak-hottest-april-on-record-6373786-May2024/
(8) https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/29/africa/kenya-floods-mai-mahiu-intl-hnk
(9) https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/climate-activists-smoke-bomb-dublin-32269841
Activists blocking the main gate to the Round Room with security guard in foreground
Photo by C Carney
Outside the Gate to the Fire House Restaurant - an entrance which diners started to use after realising the main entance was blocked, but which soon got blocked by a quick-thinking activist
Photo by C Carney
Garda Public Order Unit arrives
Photo by K Handy
Irish Funds Industry Association members being forced to enter their annual dinner by going around the back of the Mansion House.
Photo by K Handy
Photo by K Handy
Judge refuses Climate Activists ‘Just Cause’ plea in Dáil Lock-on Case
Dublin, 2:30pm, 28th September, 2023 At the Criminal Courts of Justice, in a landmark case for environmental activism, Extinction Rebellion Ireland (XRI) activists Rónán Ó Dálaigh and Art Ó Laoghaire were convicted on charges from 10th October 2019 for locking themselves to the gates of the Dáil at Merrion Square South, to escalate their demands for urgent, comprehensive government climate action in the fact of the climate crisis. Both defendants were sentenced to €500 fines. Rather than the ‘just cause’ argument put forward in the defendants’ case - that the wholly inadequate response of the Government to the climate crisis compelled them to engage in civil disobedience - the judge focussed on the possibility that Dáil staff may have been inconvenienced by the lock-on, due to vehicle access from the Dáil car park being blocked. After removal of the locks by the Gardaí, Ó Dálaigh and Art Ó Laoghaire were arrested under Section 8 of the Criminal Justice Act.
Ó Laoghaire, a father of two and semi-retired teacher of EFL who volunteers teaching Ukrainian refugees said,
I expected a suspended custodial sentence, so I’m relieved that didn’t happen. But the whole process demonstrates yet again that the legal structure is designed to support the State hegemony which is in hock to financial interests. We feel a jury would have been more sympathetic to our arguments, but the way the legal system works here means we can’t get to be heard before a jury.
“Climate events around the world since October 2019 have demonstrated that the crisis is more serious than we realised then, more serious than the IPCC had predicted. And our government has still failed to grasp the seriousness of the crisis. We need a radical change to our financial system and lifestyle, a radical change to what we produce and consume. We can't have infinite growth on a finite planet. While pursuit of profit rules, we will continue to have a climate crisis, a housing and health crisis, a refugee crisis.”
In his statement to court Ó Dálaigh, a social entrepreneur from Dublin, said ,
“I was, and remain, driven to taking direct action due to the unequivocal scientific consensus that life on earth is at risk. In particular, the most vulnerable communities around the world are the first to feel the damage. Not only has the Irish state failed in its moral and legal obligations to address the crises, but in fact it has participated in making the situation worse, through the continued increase of emissions, catastrophic biodiversity loss and failure to support a just transition. The democratic process in Ireland is not facilitating the required change, and there is therefore a duty on those most privileged in society and the global north to take direct action.”
The lock-on incident was part of XRI’s larger, week-long peaceful demonstration in Merrion Square dubbed Rebellion Week, highlighting the government's negligence in addressing the urgent and escalating climate emergency as a humanitarian crisis. The group’s explicit demands were the passage of the Climate Emergency Measures Bill 2019, adherence to the Citizens Assembly's recommendations, and the termination of plans for an LNG terminal at Shannon. These actions were deemed essential to fulfil the UN’s directives for a radical reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Ireland’s 2021 Climate Act closed the door on new exploration activities for oil and gas. However it still allows for renewal of existing licences. Planning permission for Shannon LNG was denied by An Bord Pleanála earlier this month.
Dr Sinéad Sheehan, University of Galway said,
“Those who locked onto the gates of the Dáil by their necks, and all those who stood and sat together on that night did the right thing. The cause of climate justice was to the fore, and by making this bold statement, that they would not move until forced to, for that night at least, the ordinary people took our power back.”
"As our planet teeters on the brink of irreversible climatic damage, acts of moral conviction are needed desperately"
said Jo Murray of XRI.
"Rónán and Art symbolise the collective resolve of those striving for ecological balance, emphasising the pressing need for meaningful climate legislation."
END
Extinction Rebellion Ireland activists locked on to the gates of the Dáil, Merrion Square South 10th October 2019 during Rebellion Week.