The chokehold Big Tech has over our Government cannot continue

Join our protest tomorrow - demand energy justice in Budget 2026!

Did you know that around 300,000 households are in arrears on their electricity bills? Our energy prices are among the highest in Europe. Amid the crippling cost-of-living crisis in the country, the steep energy bills are further pushing people to the brink. 

This is down to political choices to prioritise the profits of energy companies over the needs of ordinary people. 

Our Government has been allowing energy guzzling data centres to push up the cost of energy for ordinary people. While households are again facing higher energy bills this winter, data centres aren’t seeing comparable energy price hikes. In fact, scenarios in the energy regulator’s current price review even show data centres’ electricity grid charges lowering by up to 18% over time, while those for households could be increased by 8%!

We have to let the Government know that we won’t sit back and accept this injustice. The status quo cannot continue. Will join our “Energy for Who?” protest outside Dáil Eireann (Kildare Street entrance) tomorrow at 1pm to demand an urgent change of direction? 

This is the final week before Budget 2026, and tomorrow is our moment to demand solutions:

• Fund long term energy supports so no one is left behind in the energy transition - establish an Energy Guarantee for all and expand the fuel allowance.

• Make homes warm and affordable to heat, through proper investment in retrofitting starting with the coldest, least efficient homes and social housing.

• End special treatment for data centres that drive up energy demand and household bills.

We cannot afford another winter where families are left struggling to stay afloat with mounting bills and being forced to choose between heating and eating. It’s time to say that enough is enough. Let’s make sure we’ve a big crowd outside the Dáil tomorrow. There’s strength in numbers—and power in collective action.

• Eoghan Connolly - Youth climate activist and tenant, who is passionate about the intersection of class, the housing crisis and climate justice.
• Fiadh Tubridy - Researcher with Maynooth University's Just Housing Project and a committee member of Community Action Tenants Union. She has led organising drives across council owned housing in Dublin to win better living conditions for tenants faced with energy deprivation through damp, mould and poor conditions that have developed through under-investment of public housing.
• Gayle Cullen Doyle - Chairperson of Oliver Bond Residents Association. Gayle has been part of a community of residents fighting for over 20 years for urgent improvement and retrofitting of their homes in the south inner city. 
• Jess Spear - People Before Profit Councillor for Tallaght Central. Spear recently proposed a motion for South Dublin County Council to request a moratorium on data centres due to the toll the industry is taking on communities, ecosystems and infrastructure in South Dublin and across the country.
• Lynn Boylan - Sinn Féin MEP for Dublin and Ireland’s only full member of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee. She has been outspoken on the harms of Big Tech and the social and economic injustice the industry is perpetuating in Ireland. 

History shows us that collective action has the power to create change. Change is driven by communities who organise, persist, and push for a better world. Tomorrow’s protest is a chance to act together and help drive change. 

We really hope you’ll join us tomorrow. It’ll also be an opportunity to connect with each other, talk about what comes next in our campaigning and how we can build a stronger, people-powered climate movement.