Opposition parties have called for a pause on new data centres as new figures show that they account for one-fifth of all energy use.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Tánaiste Micheál Martin and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan all defended the presence of data centres in Ireland, noting that they are important for the Irish economy.
Figures published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Monday showed that data centres accounted for 18 per cent of total energy consumption in 2022. Electricity use by data centres increased by 31 per cent between 2021 and 2022.
