Lynn Boylan MEP criticised the Department of Enterprise’s latest report into data centres, accusing Minister Peter Burke of overseeing a waste of public money or an intentional evasion of the hard truths facing energy consumers.
The criticism follows revelations that despite explicit instructions in the project’s Terms of Reference to investigate the negative impacts of data centre expansion on electricity bills, the final published report entirely omitted these findings.
According to the official Terms of Reference, obtained by Lynn Boylan via FOI, Minister Peter Burke specifically tasked the consultants to examine:
“Challenges and potential disadvantages … [Footnote 16: Including for example the potential for increases in electricity prices related to any grid infrastructure developments required to support further data centre development and the impact on business costs. ] associated with further data centre developments in Ireland beyond 2030”
Lynn Boylan MEP said:
“Despite this clear directive, the main body of the final report fails to even mention the word “disadvantage,” ignoring the pressure that data centre expansion places on regular households and small businesses.
“Minister Burke’s officials clearly recognised from the outset that the escalating cost of energy was a major problem. Yet, €100,000 of taxpayers’ money later, the consultants simply didn’t answer the question they were asked in the terms of reference .
“Minister Burke now needs to spell out exactly why this report fails to address the impact of data centres on the cost of energy.
“We are left with two troubling scenarios here: If the consultants just ignored the explicit instructions they were given, then this is a complete and utter waste of €100,000 of public money.
“On the other hand, if the Minister or his department decided along the way that they simply didn’t want an answer to that question, then that raises serious questions about the validity of the report and the judgement of the Minister.
“I’m calling on minister Burke to publish all interim correspondence between his department and the consultants to determine why the critical issue was wiped from the final analysis.”
