Sir, – David McWilliams is right to highlight the benefits that data centres bring and the essential role that they play in much of modern life (“Ireland should not be blocking data centres, we need more of them”, Weekend, Opinion, August 13th). However, the argument against data centres in Ireland is not primarily being made by people who don’t think data centres are necessary, or who don’t understand what they are.
The arguments are based on Ireland being a huge outlier in the amount of energy consumption we’re allocating toward their operation, and the pressure that this puts both on overall supplies, and on our ability to decrease the amount of energy that we consume from non-renewable sources.
Forging ahead with a policy of excessive growth in a particular area of the economy without adequately taking account of the consequences is certainly not a new thing, but aligning our need for data centres with our need to decarbonise our economy is not going to happen by just wishing the downsides away, or by offloading the solutions to future governments. – Yours, etc,
DAVE MATHIESON,
Salthill,
Galway.