People Before Profit representative backs An Taisce's Louth data centre block

A proposed data centre bid on the Premier Periclase in Drogheda site faces a bid by Ireland’s National Trust An Taisce to block the development. While many Louth County Councillors in Drogheda have labeled An Taisce’s bid as “reckless and irresponsible”, a local People Before Profit representative says the party stands with the An Taisce position.

An Taisce’s objection was noted to span a variety of concerns including the vast energy consumption of data centres, potential carbon emissions, potential impact on constrained local water supplies.

People Before Profit Louth Representative James Renaghan comments:

“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. “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.”

Renaghan continued to say that artificial intelligence has been imposed on everyday life without public consent, while governments ignore urgent issues like housing, transport, and healthcare, prioritizing the interests of corporations, investors, and bureaucrats instead.

He continued: “Crucially, the shape and direction that this technology is taking is currently out of our control. It’s narrowly controlled by a small number of tech capitalists and billionaires, most of whom are American. The Irish government, Labour and Sinn Féin know this, yet they are encouraging 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.”

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Renaghan concluded by saying that 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,” he concluded.