91. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment if any part of the €3.5 billion investment outlined under the revised national development plan in EirGrid and the ESB will be used for data centre connections; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [64276/25]
Topics / Data Centres
A subject heading for parliamentary questionsData Centres
172 questions from 36 TDs, between 13 February 2025 and 22 October 2026.
172
questions
158 written, 14 oral
36
TDs have asked
9
parties and groups
Independents counted together
6
departments asked
Questions per month
The record holds no questions for August, when the Dáil does not sit.
Jan 2025Oct 2026
Show as a table
| Month | Questions |
|---|---|
| January 2025 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 8 |
| March 2025 | 9 |
| April 2025 | 6 |
| May 2025 | 6 |
| June 2025 | 2 |
| July 2025 | 2 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 5 |
| October 2025 | 0 |
| November 2025 | 9 |
| December 2025 | 26 |
| January 2026 | 10 |
| February 2026 | 3 |
| March 2026 | 12 |
| April 2026 | 10 |
| May 2026 | 5 |
| June 2026 | 27 |
| July 2026 | 7 |
| August 2026 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 15 |
| October 2026 | 10 |
Who asks, by party
The party each TD belonged to on the day, in alphabetical order. Parties differ a lot in size, and members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them, so this shows who raised it, not how much a party cares about it.
The TDs who asked most
Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them. Each question counts once.
-
39
-
25
-
21
-
9
-
9
-
8
-
8
-
7
Asked of
Debated under the same heading
Debates whose official heading is exactly these words.
The questions
255. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the position regarding the annual usage of water by data centres in Ireland; if this is something that is recorded by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61992/25]
256. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the position regarding the number of data centres that are equipped with solar panels to support part of their energy consumption; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61993/25]
636. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if there are cases where land that had been zoned as residential was used to provide land and infrastructure for a data centre; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61994/25]
127. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment whether he has assessed the impact of projected data centre demand on Ireland’s electricity grid and climate targets; the policy measures being considered to manage this demand; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59708/25]
159. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the position regarding any data centre that requires frequent use of back up generators due to unreliable energy supply; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57706/25]
160. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the position regarding the annual usage of electricity by data centres in Ireland; if this is recorded by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57709/25]
161. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the position regarding the total annual use of electricity by data centres in Ireland; the total percentage of national energy use they take up; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57710/25]
162. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the position regarding any data centre in Ireland that is associated with a district heating supply to use the excess heat created by their operations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57712/25]
84. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the measures he is taking to address the concerns raised by senior Government officials regarding the impact of data centres on household bills and housing development; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49203/25]
138. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the measures he is taking to address the impact of data centres on energy bills; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46022/25]
139. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the measures he is taking to address the warnings the Government received regarding the upward pressure data centre expansion is having on household energy bills (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46023/25]
180. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment if a data centre is considered an "islanded" data centre, if it is powered by gas powered generators off-site connected via a private wire, as was suggested in recent media reports (details supplied). [46729/25]
663. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment to respond to media reports of data centres located in Ireland being used to "plan deadly airstrikes and shape military operations" by a unit of the Israeli occupying forces against the people of Palestine (details supplied); and to outline whether his department has engaged with the data centre owner on the matter. [46728/25]
171. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the annual emissions generated by all existing data centres currently operating in the State in each of the past ten years, in tabular form; the expected emissions to be generated in each of the next five years by the additional 14 data centres currently under construction and the 40 data centres which have received planning permissio…
172. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment how the 14 data centres currently under construction and the 40 data centres which have received planning permission in the State will be powered; the amount of energy and water that will be used on an annual basis by the 14 data centres currently under construction and 40 data centres which have received planning permission; whether …
13. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment for a list of the names on the senior officials group examining the data centres transition pathway analysis. [33084/25]
103. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment if he is aware of recent concerns expressed by officials in his Department that policy choices would need to be made between data centre expansion for AI and housing delivery; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30272/25]
85. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform for an update on the progress of a State data centre; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27731/25]
11. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the status of the establishment of a data centre in a location (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26339/25]
20. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to outline the number of islanded data centres contracted to connect to the gas network; the number connected to the gas network of those contracted; the number awaiting connection to the gas network of those contracted; and the number of formal enquiries that have been received but which are not contracted, for each category, …
216. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if Uisce Éireann collects data on the amount of water currently being used by data centres on monthly basis; if his Department is currently developing policy regarding water usage by large energy users such as data centres during times of low supplies such as water conservation orders; and if he will make a statement on t…
217. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he is aware of information provided by ESB Networks (details supplied) stating that, in the absence of an adequate policy response, the potential level of data centre demand could significantly impact its ability to accommodate demand connections required to support Government policy targets; and if he will make a stat…
18. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he is aware of the newly published Review of Connection Policy for Large Energy users in relation to grid connections for data centres; if he is aware of concerns that the energy regulator has that the new capacity could be taken up by data centres due to the current model of “first come first served” ; if he is aware that the CR…
1223. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will consider advocating for a ban on data centre construction in areas of high housing need (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19404/25]