Public meeting to be held tonight over proposed Louth data centre
The meeting will focus on the proposed data centre at the former Premier Periclase site in Drogheda
People Before Profit will be hosting a Public Meeting tonight (Wednesday June 24th) at 7:30pm in McHughs Watchtower, Drogheda on the topic of data centres, with special guest speakers Patrick Brodie, co-writer of bestseller "From the Bog to the Cloud", Dylan Murphy of the environmental campaign group "Not Here Not Anywhere", and former TD for People Before Profit, Bríd Smith.
The specific topic at hand is the building of a proposed Data Centre at the former Premier Periclase site in Drogheda, which has faced a bid by Ireland’s National Trust An Taisce to block the development.
According to People Before Profit: “Many Louth County Councillors in Drogheda have labeled An Taisce’s bid as ‘reckless and irresponsible’. People Before Profit stands with their complaint. An Taisce’s objection spans a variety of concerns including the vast energy consumption of data centres, potential carbon emissions, potential impact on constrained local water supplies.
“Electricity prices in the Republic of Ireland are over 60% above the EU average, making our bills some of the highest in the world. Because of heavy subsidisation which falls back on the taxpayer, households in Ireland are paying almost twice as much for their electricity as data centres themselves.
“At the same time as costs go through the roof, data centres are consuming more and more of our grid capacity, with approximately 22% of overall energy spent on data centres in 2024.
“This figure is constantly rising, and is expected to rise to more than 30% before the end of the decade, where the grid will struggle to meet demands. This means that emissions ‘reductions’ through new renewable energy infrastructure are cancelled out by increased demand.
“During a heightened cost of energy crisis, the government’s weak measure reductions are not enough. A few cents off fuel isn’t enough. We need price controls on fuel, energy, basic groceries, plus a €500 energy credit to put money back in people’s pockets.”
The party said the expansion of AI technology powered by such facilities could also threaten jobs through automation, and accused Sinn Féin, Labour and the Government of failing to involve communities in decisions on how the technology should be developed.
It also raised concerns that the designation of parts of the River Boyne as “heavily modified” could weaken environmental protections and affect water quality. People Before Profit say they called for a moratorium on new data centres, a levy on existing facilities to fund a €500 household energy credit, and price controls on fuel, energy and basic groceries.
The party have also launched a petition against the building of this Data Centre at the below link: