Summary
- Friends of the Earth told the Oireachtas AI committee that at least 700MW is in Ireland's planning pipeline.
- Campaigners sought a moratorium and a framework for prioritising major grid connections.
- Other evidence warned that pausing projects could move investment elsewhere and argued data centres remain necessary infrastructure.
Ireland’s Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence has heard calls for a moratorium on new data centres and a new framework for deciding which large projects receive electricity connections, as the country’s capacity debate moves back into Parliament.
Friends of the Earth Ireland told the committee that at least 700MW of data centre development is currently within the planning system and argued that further hyperscale growth should pause while the state assesses electricity, emissions, water, and infrastructure impacts.
The organisation calculated that the planning-stage pipeline could add demand equivalent to around 11% of Ireland’s current peak electricity requirement. That figure is an advocacy group’s estimate based on proposed projects rather than a forecast that all 700MW will be built, connected, and operating simultaneously.
The hearing included opposing views. Fianna Fáil Senator Malcolm Byrne argued that modern economies depend on data centres and that expansion should be linked to renewable-energy development rather than treated as inherently undesirable. Digital-sustainability consultant David Jensen warned that a moratorium could push investment into other markets.
The hearing puts project selection back on the agenda
The argument is no longer simply about whether Ireland should allow more data centres. Existing connection constraints have already forced the country towards a more selective system.
The Commission for Regulation of Utilities’ current policy requires new data centres seeking electricity connections to provide generation or storage corresponding to their requested demand. Applications are also assessed against network constraints, location, system security, and the availability of capacity.
Friends of the Earth wants that process to go further by creating an explicit prioritisation framework for large connections and pausing new development while the wider policy is reassessed.
That proposal has particular resonance around Naas, where large potential projects are contributing to a local planning dispute. Kildare County Council is due to consider a motion concerning land zoned specifically for data centre development, while local campaigners are seeking tighter restrictions on further capacity.
The national planning pipeline cannot be treated as equivalent to committed load. Some projects will not obtain planning approval, some may not secure electricity connections or financing, and some will be delivered in phases over several years. Nevertheless, a large queue of applications can itself create problems if network planning has to account for projects with very different probabilities of proceeding.
Power policy is colliding with climate policy
Data centres accounted for 22% of Ireland’s electricity demand in 2024, according to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, which forecasts that currently contracted demand could lift the share to 31% by 2034. Continued growth therefore affects how rapidly generation and network capacity must expand.
Campaigners argued that Ireland has insufficient information on water use and sustainability performance and pointed to European reporting requirements that have not yet produced the level of public facility data they want.
The counterargument is that computing infrastructure supports economic activity that cannot simply be removed from the system. Cloud platforms, enterprise systems, digital services, public-sector infrastructure, and AI all require data centre capacity somewhere, while Ireland has built a substantial technology sector around hosting and digital services.
The policy problem is consequently one of scale, location, and timing rather than a binary choice between data centres and no data centres. A project arriving where the grid is constrained has a different effect from the same load in an area with spare capacity, suitable generation, and a clear reinforcement plan.
The hearing also shows why connection policy is moving beyond the traditional first-ready, first-served logic used for smaller demand customers. A single hyperscale facility can absorb a quantity of network capacity comparable with the demand of a significant local area.
Ireland now has to reconcile three objectives that do not automatically align: maintaining an attractive environment for digital infrastructure, meeting electricity and climate targets, and preventing speculative or poorly located demand from consuming scarce grid headroom.
The committee has not itself imposed a moratorium. The evidence session adds political pressure to an argument that will continue through the CRU, planning authorities, local councils, and the Oireachtas as the next generation of projects seeks power.
