Sir, – Una Mullally is right to raise concerns about the environmental sustainability of the increased presence of data centres in the State (Opinion & Analysis, August 8th). However, some of her points are wide of the mark.
Una Mullally argues that the only reason to build data centres in Ireland is so Fine Gael can pander to tech companies, and keep them located here to extract corporation tax revenue. This may well be a motivation for Irish Government policy, but there are also better reasons to locate date centres here.
Digital activity generates data, and data must be stored somewhere. It is very important that wherever it is stored, individuals’ human right to privacy is protected.
We have already seen two agreements between the EU and the US struck down by the European Court of Justice because we cannot be sure that data transferred to the US will be protected from surveillance by the American government. (There is now a third “agreement in principle” since March, which may also be subject to legal challenge). The same concerns are obviously true of data transferred to lots of other countries, of which China is the most significant due to its expanding tech sector and advanced state surveillance apparatus.
Kamala Harris is a descendant of an Irish slave owner in Jamaica
Artist and shepherd Orla Barry: ‘Breeding animals is like making an artwork. You’re putting certain animals together’
Tactical analysis: Clare got their numbers right, but it’s hard to measure sheer magic
Aer Lingus has agreed to increase pilots’ pay as industry challenges mount
Some countries (including China and Russia) require “data localisation”, ie personal data about their citizens must be stored within their borders. The EU does not require full data localisation, relying instead on third-country companies following the GDPR (though some EU member states, and the GDPR, restrict the export of certain kinds of data). The growth of data centres in Ireland partially reflects a trend towards localisation in the absence of legal requirements. But should the EU pursue greater localisation (and there would be good reasons of geopolitical security and the protection of human rights to do so), that will require more data centres in EU member states. Due to our temperate climate, it may be better to keep these in Ireland than on continental Europe, where even more energy would be needed to keep data centres cool, further imperilling climate targets.
One contrary point Una Mullally overlooked is the very recent evidence that Ireland is not necessarily best-placed to protect the data centres located here from cyber-attacks, like that against the HSE last year. Data localisation for security or human rights reasons are not much use if local authorities cannot protect the data.
To be clear, I am absolutely no fan of data centres nor the Big Tech companies that use them. Una Mullally is absolutely right to be worried about our energy security and climate targets (which should be considered on a European as well as national level), but fundamentally the way to have fewer data centres is to have less data. However, the de-digitising of various aspects of our economic and social lives is a much broader conversation. – Yours, etc,
ALAN EUSTACE,
Lecturer in Law,
Magdalen College,
University of Oxford.