Power Grab - Ireland's energy story from electrification to Big Tech

Friends of the Earth are hosting a walking tour around parts of Dublin City with stops and speakers painting the story of Ireland’s Data Centre expansion and its implications for our energy, water, climate targets and cost of living.

Data centres soak up 21% of our electricity grid. This is more than all urban homes in Ireland - and predicted to grow to 30%. The EU average is 2%. Meanwhile energy prices in Ireland are one of the highest in Europe. 

The Irish Government has put private Big Tech companies ahead of public good. Data centre expansion is increasing energy bills for householders, causing energy demand to soar as well as increasing burning of fossil fuels - pumping out more and more emissions while everyone else does their fair share to lower theirs.

What is all the data for? Who is involved? What does this mean for water, resources and energy at home in Ireland and abroad? And how did Ireland become such a dumping ground for data?

Join us for a trail of discovery across town, examining the players, resources and how they are all connected to the risky growing expansion of power-guzzling data centres.

Starting : Fitzwilliam Street Lower (TBC)

Time: 12pm (noon)

Ending : York Road, Ringsend (near Tom Clarke Bridge fka East-Link Toll Bridge)

Duration: 2 hours approx

Places are limited, so book your spot today!

Alongside our Data Centre Campaign team, we’ll be joined by external speakers Vicky Donnelly, Dr. Patrick Brodie and Sinéad Mercier to examine the power and politics behind Ireland’s data centre crisis.

Vicky Donnelly is the Education and Outreach officer with Financial Justice Ireland and has over 20 years of experience in designing and delivering critical Global Education and anti-racism programs, working in schools, colleges and universities, and with service-providers, and youth and community groups around the country. 

Dr. Patrick Brodie is an Assistant Professor in the School of Information and Communication Studies at University College Dublin. His research focuses on the environmental politics of digital media infrastructure. He is the author or editor of three forthcoming books, including From the Bog to the Cloud: Dependency and Eco-Modernity in Ireland (with Patrick Bresnihan, Bristol University Press).

Sinéad Mercier is a PhD researcher with the European Research Council project PROPERTY[IN]JUSTICE and occasional lecturer in Planning and Environmental Law at the UCD Sutherland School of Law. Her research explores the gap between energy law and climate commitments in international and Irish law.