It is something of a tautology to state that things only matter when they start to matter. Yet this is the case with the emerging data centre backlash in Ireland.

As the public and political backlash against data centres grows in the US, it is inevitable people in other countries will begin to react. Backlashes can be contagious.

Ireland holds the ignominious title of world leader in the percentage of metered electricity used by data centres nationally: 23 per cent. In the Dublin-Meath region, according to the Central Statistics Office, data centres consumed 50 per cent of all metered electricity as of 2024.

This figure was stated in the Dáil last June by then minister for climate, rnergy and the environment Darragh O’Brien.

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There are two interesting timelines currently unfolding that are relevant to Ireland. One is how the pro-Big-Tech rightwing in the US is now echoing the Irish government’s past rhetoric on data centres. The other is how the Irish public is beginning to catch up with the contemporary global data centre backlash, which has become an election issue in the US in advance of the midterm elections in........

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