Social Democrats launch bill to create a centralised register of data centres

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

The Hard Shoulder, with Ciara Kelly and Shane Colman. On Newstalk, with Ciara.

Shane Colman (0:10)

Now, the Social Democrats today launched a bill to establish a public register of data centers in Ireland to include information about their location, carbon emissions, energy requirements and water usage, saying we cannot afford to give data centers free rain. Transparency must be the first step. We're joined by Sock Dems TD, Jennifer Whitmore. Jennifer, what has prompted this legislation?

Good evening.

Jennifer Whitmore (0:34)

Look, I think data centers and the, I suppose, really substantial increase in the number of data centers that we have here in Ireland. This is something I've been working on for quite a while. It's probably five years since I first raised alarm bells with the number of data centers and the potential impact of them on our electricity system in the Dáil. And I think what we haven't seen from the government even since that time is any sort of strategic look at the number of data centers that we have and really how many data centers can we afford as a country. And I think this is the first step in that discussion. We need to have the facts out on the table. So the policymakers and lawmakers and indeed that the public are fully aware of the full picture when it comes to data centers and their potential impact on issues such as energy use or our emissions or water usage. You know, the European Union have a process by which actually data centers are meant to be feeding this information into them. They have, you know, the spin and train now for three years.

And only 18 out of 123 data centers in Ireland have actually contributed to that information. So it's clear that it's not going to be done on a voluntary basis. So I think it's important that there's legislation in place that the government can insist that a publicly held or a publicly available register is available for people to interrogate and look at. I think that's really important. And if data centers don't comply or don't put their information into that database, then the government can actually find them.

Shane Colman (2:10)

Do you believe that lack of transparency is deliberate?

Jennifer Whitmore (2:15)

I think what's after happening is that we have... I think it just goes to show how siloed our governance here is in this country. I think there are many different agencies that will have a little, a small picture, a small bit of the jigsaw when it comes to data centers, but there is no overarching picture, you know, that there's no overarching agency that can give us all that information about, like, you know, their size, where they're located, how much energy they use, how much water they use.

Are they efficient with the use of this energy and water and indeed their emissions. So we don't have, like, each little, each department might have a subsection of that, but there isn't an overarching. And I do believe that there is, I don't want to say it was a conscious decision, but I think it certainly helps the government roll out the red carpet for these data centers if that information isn't clear and available to everybody.

Shane Colman (3:10)

Yeah, no, and fair enough. And I think it's hard to disagree with the notion of full transparency and full information from people. But does that full picture not also include the benefits that data centers bring? And is there a danger that the narrative in this country at the moment is very much anti-data centers for a country that is hugely dependent on digital economy, that is hugely dependent on taxes from tech companies and jobs from tech companies?

Jennifer Whitmore (3:39)

So, I would actually say the opposite. I think actually what we get from this government is a lot of spin when it comes to data centers. I mean, there was a recent report that said that they were responsible for 875,000 jobs in this country. Now, that's just a ridiculously high number. I don't think anyone is disputing that there are some jobs that are derived from them and that they are necessary in some regards. But I think that 875,000, that figure completely overestimated the importance here. And, you know, I mean, actually, there's 30 to 50 people are employed directly on-site.

And I think, but I do think if you, even if you take into account sort of downstream jobs that are created, the figure that I have seen also is 20,000, which I think to me sounds more reasonable. So, like, 6% of...

Shane Colman (4:31)

Yeah, but that's not the full picture, though, Jennifer. I mean, the full picture is all of those tech companies. And yes, it's true, data centers directly are a small fraction of the jobs that they provide. But there is also an argument, and one that is arguably ignored in this narrative, that data centers anchor those major tech companies here. And that those tech companies do employ, you know, tens and tens of thousands of people. They do, they have funded the doubling in public expenditure over the last 10 years.