People Before Profit is inviting local residents to attend a public meeting on data centres, with a particular focus on the data centre proposed for the former Premier Periclase site in Drogheda.
The meeting will take place on Wednesday, June 24 at 7.30pm in The Watchtower, upstairs in McHugh’s.
The event will feature guest speakers Patrick Brodie, co-writer of the bestselling book From the Bog to the Cloud, Dylan Murphy of the environmental campaign group Not Here Not Anywhere, and former People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith.
The meeting has been organised to give local people an opportunity to hear more about data centres, the proposed development in Drogheda, and the wider questions being raised around energy use, infrastructure, planning and environmental impact.
The specific topic at hand is the building of a proposed Data Centre at the former Premier Periclase site in Drogheda, which has faced a bid by Ireland’s National Trust An Taisce to block the development.
Many Louth County Councillors in Drogheda have labeled An Taisce’s bid as “reckless and irresponsible”. People Before Profit stands with their complaint. An Taisce’s objection spans a variety of concerns including the vast energy consumption of data centres, potential carbon emissions, potential impact on constrained local water supplies.
Electricity prices in the Republic of Ireland are over 60% above the EU average, making our bills some of the highest in the world. Because of heavy subsidisation which falls back on the taxpayer, households in Ireland are paying almost twice as much for their electricity as data centres themselves. At the same time as costs go through the roof, data centres are consuming more and more of our grid capacity, with approximately 22% of overall energy spent on data centres in 2024. This figure is constantly rising, and is expected to rise to more than 30% before the end of the decade, where the grid will struggle to meet demands. This means that emissions ‘reductions’ through new renewable energy infrastructure are cancelled out by increased demand.
During a heightened cost of energy crisis, the government’s weak measure reductions are not enough. A few cents off fuel isn’t enough. We need price controls on fuel, energy, basic groceries, plus a €500 energy credit to put money back in people’s pockets.
While an increase of data centres and a decrease in day-to-day affordability are clearly interconnected, such rapid changes will impact working people in more ways than living costs alone. The AI software that data centres power will inevitably create unemployment by outsourcing labour to emergent machinery. For local Sinn Féin and Labour councillors, who claim to be parties of the left opposition, to support a development that will directly contribute to both the affordability crisis and climate crisis suggests a lack of political direction at a time when we need it most.
The Irish government, Labour and Sinn Féin know this, yet they encourage us to quietly accept the inevitable harms they’ll cause to working people. There is no discussion anywhere with ordinary people about shaping and directing this technology, in keeping with a project of green transition, for the betterment of society.
The government’s designation of parts of the River Boyne as ‘heavily modified’ could allow a proposed data centre to harm the river’s water quality, raising concerns that potential environmental impacts may not be properly assessed or managed.
The Irish people will suffer from the proliferation of data centers, while the rich will profit from them. Local councillors endorsing the proposed Datacenter bid on the Premier Periclase site is short-term opportunism at best. It will provide no answer to the current crises we’re facing, and in the long-term, will make things worse.
Another data centre is another cost onto the ordinary person! We in People Before Profit, as part of this campaign, demand:
- A Levy existing data centres to fund a €500 energy credit for households
- Price controls on fuel,energy and basic groceries
- A Moratorium on new data centres
Supporters can sign petition against the building of this Data Centre at the below link:
