Taoiseach defends data centres as Social Democrats question climate ambitions

Meta’s data centre in Clonee, Co Meath (PA/Niall Carson)

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said a solution to the high energy consumption of data centres is to make sure that they are powered through renewable energy, as opposition TDs questioned the Government’s belief in climate science.

He was responding to a question from Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns, who pointed to data released from the Central Statistics Office on Monday which showed that the percentage of metered electricity consumed by data centres rose from 5% in 2015 to 18% in 2022.