SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY Council has passed a motion calling for a moratorium on new data centres being built in the area unless they are operating wholly from renewable energy sources.

Most of Ireland’s data centres are in Dublin, with at least 30 of them located in the south of the county. 

Ministers in Ireland have been warned that the growing numbers of data centres in Ireland are using up our electricity supply and increasing the risk of rising energy household energy bills, RTÉ’s Prime Time team previously revealed.

People Before Profit councillor Jess Spear told The Journal that the motion she proposed initially had no mention of renewables, as she says there is no such thing as a data centre that only uses renewable energy, and that even if there was, “that’s not what we would like to see our renewable energy supply being used for”. 

Spear said that the motion passed with wide consensus, as councillors from different parties have increasing concerns about the toll data centres take on the climate, but also as they are hearing from constituents who have worries around the role data centres could be playing in their rising energy bills. 

“A lot of people in the area are in arrears because they cannot keep up with rising energy bills, and they are starting to realise that this could be playing a part,” she said. 

“Everyone is aware of the strain that these data centres place on our energy system and the gargantuan amounts of water usage it takes for them to operate. 

Environmental lobbying group Friends of the Earth Ireland commended the councillors for passing the motion. 

“We are concerned that data centre growth in Ireland has already outpaced the build out of renewables, and that without very strict rules around data centres’ access to renewables, big tech companies will continue to greenwash themselves by purchasing carbon credits in other countries while burning oil and gas at home.

“Friends of the Earth also calls for an end to Big Tech’s participation in genocide, and highlights that Microsoft data centres in Ireland have now been shown to host data used by Israel’s military to surveil civilians in Palestine,” a spokesperson for the organisation said. 

The organisation took objection to the fact that only an amended version of the motion passed which exempted data centres that rely on renewable energy sources. 

“We were disappointed to see Labour councillors in South Dublin not lend their support to the original motion, which was a position that the party endorsed as recently as last year’s election,” Friends of the Earth campaigner Rosi Leonard said. 

Councillor Spear said that the original motion would have seen the council write to the Minister for Climate and the Environment requesting a national moratorium on further data centre expansion. 

She also noted that in 2022 South Dublin County Council passed an amendment to the County Development plan to ban new data centres, which the Minister for State Peter Burke overturned, as he said it did not align with national policy.