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🇮🇪 Ireland /Technology

Una Mullally: The hum from your local data centre is really a growing backlash

From Irish Times · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Opinion Named sources Context piece
  • Ireland’s data centres used 23 percent of the country’s metered electricity, while facilities in the Dublin-Meath region used 50 percent in 2024.
  • Una Mullally argues that Ireland’s earlier pro-data-centre rhetoric is colliding with growing public scepticism, as opposition becomes an election issue elsewhere.
  • She compares language from US figures including Donald Trump and Mark Levin with past arguments from Irish politicians defending data-centre expansion.

Ireland’s data-centre backlash is no longer just a distant political trend. It is beginning to collide with the language Irish governments once used to promote the industry.

All of a sudden data centres are the big bad bogeyman

· Mark LevinThe US conservative host’s description of growing opposition to data centres.

Data centres accounted for 23 percent of Ireland’s metered electricity use, giving the country the highest national share in the world, the article says. In the Dublin-Meath region, they consumed 50 percent of all metered electricity in 2024, according to the Central Statistics Office. Then climate, energy and environment minister Darragh O’Brien cited that figure in the Dáil last June.

Two political timelines are now converging. In the United States, opposition to data centres has become an election issue ahead of November’s midterm elections. At the same time, Irish public scepticism is emerging after years of enthusiastic government messaging. The article argues that the two developments are colliding for Fine Gael, described as Ireland’s most pro-data-centre party.

it’s easy to come in and kind of say the data centres are bad or make the data centres the bogeyman

· Simon HarrisHis earlier remarks in the Irish parliament defending data centres.

American conservative host Mark Levin recently said, “All of a sudden data centres are the big bad bogeyman.” Earlier this year, Simon Harris used strikingly similar language in the Dáil: “it’s easy to come in and kind of say the data centres are bad or make the data centres the bogeyman.”

LIQUID GOLD!

· Donald TrumpTrump’s description of the tax and job benefits he associates with data centres.

Donald Trump has promoted data centres by declaring that their taxes and jobs amount to “LIQUID GOLD!” Leo Varadkar made a comparable argument in 2021, saying data and data centres were “gold” and “diamonds” that should be stored in the country. Trump has also warned opponents, “If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame.” The article links that message to Paschal Donohoe’s 2022 warning about job losses if data centres were excluded from an energy-support scheme.

If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame

· Donald TrumpA warning aimed at those opposing further data-centre development.
About this summary

Originally published by Irish Times in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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