IRELAND’S INDUSTRY GROUP for data centres has lashed out at writer Sally Rooney for her opposition to the sector’s expansion, calling her a “hypocrite” for her use of print publishing.

The best-selling author was a prominent objector to a data centre in Killala, Co Mayo, which planning authorities eventually rejected, although on grounds related to a separate objector’s appeal.

In her submission on the Mayo proposal, Rooney called the data centres a “disaster” for their “wasteful consumption of electricity”, as she argued that some estimates suggest online ads that rely on data centres account for between 50% and 80% of internet data usage.

This stance has raised the ire of Digital Infrastructure Ireland chief executive Ronan Kelly, who has launched a broadside against Rooney over her opposition to data centres.

Kelly further branded Rooney a “hypocrite” as he claimed she doesn’t factor in the carbon emissions from using the printed word for her books.

“I saw Sally Rooney quoted in a piece, that data centres were pointless for creating advertising and not a good use of electricity. That’s got my back up a little bit,” Kelly told The Journal in an interview about the sector’s future in Ireland amid mounting opposition.

“Here’s someone using their somewhat celebrity status to throw criticism at this sector,” Kelly said.

After researching Rooney’s publishing figures, Kelly said he set about calculating the potential emissions from publishing the likes of Normal People.

“So Sally Rooney has published six and a half million books – that’s quite a lot of books, well done – but that’s about 15,000 tonnes of emissions,” Kelly said.

“But I wonder does Sally make use of e-books at all,” Kelly said, arguing that if Rooney had published entirely on e-books then the carbon emission impact of her award-winning career would have been “only roughly 1,000 tonnes”.

“It’s hypocritical of her when she also distributes her product through data centres,” he said, referring to sales over e-books such as Kindle.

“So yes, she got my back up and I honed in on her but it’s just one example of digitalisation,” Kelly added.

How many shells of VHS cassettes and other products slowly but surely made their way into a landfill with a massive environmental impact? And data centres can help digitalise these products and lessen their carbon impact.

Kelly said he accepted that there are concerns around electricity use at data centres, but claimed this was mainly due to Ireland’s electrical grid needing huge upgrades.

He added that many of Ireland’s data centres are “not fit for purpose for competing in the AI world”, but that “underinvestment has meant pinch-points” within the grid.

“That prevents us from adding any more cloud-based data centres and that’s the stuff that you’re seeing being turned down at the moment,” Kelly said.

Is Ronan Kelly right to use that comparison?

We asked University College Cork climate lecturer Paul Deane whether Kelly is correct to use such a comparison between printed books and e-books. In response, Deane said it would be hard to calculate and it would be open to many variables.

“It’s not a straightforward thing doing the numbers of this,” Deane said.

“Yes, books come from trees, but what is in production lifecycle of a Kindle? And books stay in circulation for a long time and can be sold a second time, and on again. And then we have to look at where are data centres operated? Like, Ireland has a very polluting power system compared to the rest of Europe.”

Sally Rooney’s publisher was contacted for comment and did not respond in time for publication.

In her six-page submission on the now rejected data centre, Rooney had also said that, “not only would this proposed data centre represent a wasteful use of precious and limited electricity; it could also endanger that vital resource for other users, including hospitals and homes.”

Rooney was one of a number of objectors to the Co Mayo data centre, with the plans eventually being halted after an appeal by retired scientist Colin Doyle.

A report by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) said data centres were the “dominant driver” of increased energy demand in the commercial services sector this year.

The SEAI suggested that energy demand could rise by 10% by 2030, but this would come against a required reduction of 15%.

Recent research by Friends of the Earth has found that soaring demand for data centres in Ireland has driven up energy prices with an estimated €1.4 billion added to household electricity bills.