Paul Murphy
Dublin South-West · People Before Profit-Solidarity · Ireland
“The Minister of State assured us we are bound by international law but then went on to talk about the fact that he wants to deploy troops outside the framework of international law. That is why the Government is getting rid of the triple lock. All the triple lock does is ensure that we only can send troops in line with international law.”
“The case for MetroLink south west is extremely strong. There are 350,000 people living between the Luas red and green lines. That is who will be served by this.”
“Hopefully the junior Minister will be able to clarify. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, said earlier to Deputy Ó Laoghaire, "The people I speak to do not like the fact that Russia has essentially removed, or will remove in the coming months, all our peacekeeping troops from UNIFIL".”
“I, too, want to ask about the senior Minister. This came up at the Dáil reform committee last week. It is very peculiar that a senior Minister is here and has answered previous questions on the triple lock today and then – no offence meant - we have the junior Minister answering these questions, which precisely prevents the continuation o…”
“Its defence is that we should not worry because the Government is only going to send them as part of an international force. I do not think anyone here thinks the Government is going to invade a country all by itself.”
“It is there in black and white in the programme for Government and the Government needs to live up to its commitment to do a new, properly independent feasibility study. I appeal to the Minister of State to ask the Minister for Transport to meet with the metro south west group which has been doing such excellent campaigning on this issue.”
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“Either we have a means test and all of the pressure that puts on people or we do not. It is not only about the income; it is also about the fact of the means test being a demeaning process that people go through. They have to fill out a large form, along with a medical report to justify the work they are doing, which is saving the State approximately €20 billion a year.”
“It was interesting that the Minister used slightly different language in his answer from what is contained in the written replies to parliamentary questions. In written replies the Minister states that the programme for Government has set out a timeline that commits to significantly further increasing the income disregards. He left out, quite understandably, the point about having a timeline because, presumably, he knows that the programme for Government does not contain such a timeline. All it sets out is a general commitment to a view to phasing out the means test. I presume the Minister is not in a position to give me a timeline. While the increase in the income disregard is welcome, it is not sufficient. A means test is not something that can be gradually abolished.”
“During the general election campaign, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael promised to abolish the means test for the carer's allowance. The programme for Government contains a commitment to phasing out the means test during the lifetime of the Government. Will the Minister tell us in which budget the means test will be abolished?”
“I have no problem going into cafés, restaurants or shops in my constituency and saying, “It is not okay to pay people less than the minimum wage.” Surely the Government should be in a position to do that. How long is this delay going to be? The justification that is being given for continuing with this super-exploitation of young people is not legitimate. The Low Pay Commission looked at it and said it would not stand up, it does not amount to a legitimate aim and would therefore not be legal under the EU directive on adequate minimum wages that if you have exceptions, they need to be in pursuit of a legitimate aim and that pursuance of cost savings for employers does not count as that. That is clearly the agenda the Tánaiste is setting out.”
“I do not think it is credible to suggest that this Government is anything other than anti-worker. Look at its actions in just the past few weeks - the delay of a promised extension of sick leave. I remember debating the sick leave legislation here. I remember us saying the extension of time should be in the legislation and the Government saying, “We do not need to write it in, but do not worry, we will extend it.” The Government is delaying the introduction of a promised living wage and now is standing over a situation of legalised super-exploitation of young people. The Tánaiste is saying it is okay for workers under the age of 20 who are doing the same work as colleagues beside them to be paid less than the minimum wage.”
“The reply to the parliamentary question I got on Tuesday said it will not be finished until June but that regardless of that, "the Government has agreed to defer any decision on sub-minimum youth rates of the National Minimum Wage." That is to say, the Government is going to continue with legalised super-exploitation of young people, even after the Dáil voted to end it and the Low Pay Commission recommended that it be done away with, and before the economic impact assessment commissioned by the Government has even been completed. On May Day, on International Workers' Day, will the Tánaiste please reverse course on this anti-worker agenda? Will he commit to equal pay for young workers?”
“ISME also revealed the real reason it wants to keep subminimum wages. It said if young workers get the full minimum wage, this will have a spill-over impact on other workers' pay demands. In other words, it is about wage suppression for all workers. Two years ago we in People Before Profit proposed a Bill to do away with this legalised super-exploitation. It passed Second Stage but with a timed amendment from the Government to delay it by a year. The excuse for the delay was that the Low Pay Commission was due to report on these subminimum wage rates. The Low Pay Commission did report, last March. It recommended that subminimum wages should be abolished. Were they then abolished? No, the can was kicked down the road again with an economic impact assessment. I asked the Minister for an update on the progress of this assessment.”
“However, bosses are allowed to pay 19-year-olds 10% less than that inadequate wage, 18-year-olds can get 20% less and 17-year-olds and younger can be paid 30% below the minimum wage, an insulting €9.45 an hour. When they go to pay for groceries, they do not get 30% off the bill. If a 19-year-old is renting, he or she cannot take 10% off the rent or get a young person's discount on petrol. It is blatant discrimination for young workers doing the same work as their colleagues. In the Oireachtas committee, the employers' group, Irish SME Association, ISME, claimed that it is in loco parentis over young workers who, I quote, "may favour gratification before learning how to budget", that bosses are doing young workers a favour by underpaying them otherwise, they might waste the money on sweets.”
“One of the first protests I went on was to demand the introduction of a minimum wage. At that stage there was no minimum wage. Bosses could pay what they liked. That campaign was won and 25 years ago a national minimum wage was introduced. Scandalously, the minimum wage included provision for legal discrimination against young workers. That inequality continues to this day. Around 15,000 young people in this country are legally paid less than the minimum wage. We have a national minimum wage of €13.50 an hour which is less than the living wage, a wage which makes possible a minimum livable standard of living. The road to that living wage is getting longer under this Government.”
“I got a reply from the Minister two days ago to a parliamentary question in which I asked how this was progressing. He indicated that it is due to be finalised in June or July, but he has already made the decision. In advance of the economic impact assessment, he is also going to suspend the decision on that. I presume that is for three years. I am referring here to a legalised situation whereby young people are paid less than the minimum wage. That is scandalous, and the Minister has the cheek to say that it is a fact that he is working for workers' rights.”
“Saying that is a fact does not make it a fact. The Government has been in power for three or four months. It has not progressed workers' rights at all. It has taken a series of negative steps and reneged on the commitments to extend sick leave and establish a living wage and on the vote of the previous Dáil to abolish sub-minimum wages. I will focus on the latter. The Dáil voted two years ago to abolish sub-minimum wages. There was then a delay of a year because the Low Pay Commission was charged with looking at the matter. The commission looked at and unanimously recommended the abolition of sub-minimum wages. The Government then wanted to kick the can down the road again and said that an economic impact assessment was needed.”
“The Minister talks about employment rights and says he is in favour of them. His actions demonstrate the opposite. The fact that he had the most famously anti-worker, anti-union boss in the country launch his election campaign suggests that opposite is the case.”
“At the Minister's campaign launch, Michael O'Leary stated: We need a government that delivers for enterprise ... it’s vital that we elect a government that gets shit done ... I can think of nobody here, certainly in the current government, who demonstrates more action, more energy ... than Peter Burke. That is more action and more energy for enterprise. Is that why the Minister is doing what he is doing? Is he following the lead of Michael O'Leary, an anti-trade union and anti-worker boss, in reneging on previous commitments to extend sick leave, introduce a living wage and honour the vote of the previous Dáil to abolish sub-minimum wage rates and the legalised discrimination against and super-exploitation of young workers which allows them to be paid even less than the minimum wage?”
“The last couple of weeks have seen the Minister abandon a series of promises to workers. He abandoned the promises to extend sick leave and introduce a living wage. Incredibly, he is refusing to scrap sub-minimum wages. People watching this performance might ask if the Minister is following the lead of the most anti-trade union boss in Ireland, Michael O'Leary, who launched the Minister's election campaign last November. Has the Minister had any more meetings with Mr. O'Leary since he took office? How has his relationship with the latter influenced the Minister's decisions?”
“The last response I have says that they want to confirm that an apology has already been offered, which it has not been, and, therefore, they do not anticipate further correspondence. Will the Taoiseach will join me in asking the scouts to apologise and does he agree that we need to have an independent investigation into the circumstances of the death?”
“In December 2015, Aoife Winterlich, who was 14 years of age, went on a trip organised by Scouting Ireland. They went to Hook Head, where there was no assessment of the risks although it was a very stormy day. There was no guidance, no warning and nobody watching. Aoife was swept out to sea and died. It took eight years and the bringing of a court case for Scouting Ireland to finally acknowledge liability in this circumstance, but the scouts have failed to offer an apology for their failure in their duty of care to Anne Winterlich’s daughter. They have offered an apology for the tragic loss of her daughter but not for their role in the tragic loss of her daughter. I have been in correspondence with the scouts on this.”
“There is no question about that, which is good to see. It is because of the action of the parents in the Gallery and the many thousands like them across the country. That is why we have the promise of the 400 classes in September, but it has to be met. We have to see it happen. It has to be in September; it cannot be later. The parents will not give up.”
“According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, states parties shall ensure that persons with disabilities can access an inclusive, quality and free primary education and secondary education on an equal basis with others in the communities in which they live. Think of the multiple ways in which those rights are denied to children in this State. I refer here to the 100-plus who were left without school places last September, the many who were pressured to take inappropriate school places, those who were pressured to do extra years in preschool, the 20,000 children who were transported every day outside of their own communities and those who were forced into home tuition. It is a scandalous failure of children in this State. The Government is under pressure on this issue.”
“He said he was not happy with the situation and suggested that Hannah needed both hips done. Louise went back to the Coombe, where the doctor said that was a load of nonsense and that Hannah did not need either of her hips done. Thankfully, Hannah did not get the operations. Emilia's case is not included in the audit because it happened in 2018 and the audit runs from 2021 to 2023. Every hip operation will need to be looked at in order for these parents to get support. The Nayagam report is going to be damning for Connor Green. Every surgery that Connor Green did, including on adults, needs to be looked at. I know of a horrifying case of an adult who was pressured into what seems to have been an inappropriate surgery. We need to broaden our examination as well as having a public inquiry.”
“She had been told she would have annual check-ups until she was 16 but was suddenly discharged when she was six. Just a few months ago, when Emilia was nine, Louise was watching a debate on Leaders' Questions and asked Emilia if she still had any problems with her hips. Emilia told her that she only gets pain when she walks up the stairs. The scariest part of the story is not what happened to Emilia. It is that Louise's second daughter, Hannah, had an eye condition at the time. When the hospital was discharging Emilia, the doctor in question said he would like to check Hannah. The mother said that was not necessary because Hannah had been checked in the Coombe but the doctor was absolutely obsessed. He checked, logged into the CHI database and looked at the scan.”
“They then went to a particular doctor, whom I will not name at this stage, who said that Emilia definitely needed an osteotomy on both hips. The mother was uneasy with the manner of the doctor. She was uneasy with how eager he was to do the operation. She felt this was not right but was in a situation whereby a doctor was telling her that she must do something. She was not able to bring her daughter to the hospital that day. She blames herself, when she should not blame herself at all. Afterwards, Emilia lost weeks of playschool. She was six before she could walk properly. The operation happened in 2018. Emilia was the slowest to do a cartwheel and the last to ride a bike. Until she was seven and a half years old, she would say her legs were sore. She was discharged at six years of age.”
“It was part of the same culture whereby there was bullying and intimidation, and where no one at Temple Street felt able to shout "Stop", or ask, "What is that spring doing in that child?" or, "Why are we having all these operations on children who clearly do not need them?" It is incredible. The draft report suggests that 80% of hip operations at CHI were unnecessary, with the rate at 60% for Cappagh hospital. What does that look like for the families? I met Louise and Colin the week before last. They were in Temple Street with their daughter Emilia. Originally, there was a possibility that she would need an osteotomy on one hip. Thankfully, they went to another doctor at the hospital who told them it should be fine and that Emilia did not need such an operation.”
“If not for the whistleblower, and the freedom of information, FOI, requests and parliamentary questions prompted by the whistleblower, we would not have had the internal review, the Boston review, the HIQA report or the Nayagam report that is due to the Irish Medical Council. That is the scariest part of all of this. If not for a brave whistleblower, springs could still be inserted in children today. There are real cultural and governance issues in respect of the fact this was not spotted. One point made to me is that the CHI clinical director model means that one person sits over 12 specialties and is unable to keep an eye on what is happening. We should not treat the issue of unnecessary osteotomies on a massive and gross scale and unnecessary operations for hip dysplasia as separate issues to the malpractice of Connor Green.”
“What has happened in Temple Street is the abuse of vulnerable children. That abuse may have been motivated by a doctor or doctors who thought they knew best, were doing the best for the children and did not need to obey the rules. It may have been motivated by a hunt to maximise income through private health insurance. Regardless of the reason, it is abuse by individual doctors, such as Connor Green, who inserted the three metal springs and who also faces other allegations of malpractice. It is also abuse by individual doctors and individual wrongdoing that went undetected by the system.”
“That is absolutely incredible. Does the Taoiseach agree there needs to be an independent process? We repeated the stories the women told us. We believe the Mothers Against Genocide. We repeated those stories not just in the Dáil, where there is the question of use of Dáil privilege, but also outside. We are fully free, able and willing to continue to do that. Does the Taoiseach agree that there needs to be an independent process and that the Minister should withdraw this incredible attempt to describe these mothers as liars and allow them to proceed with their complaint to Fiosrú before passing judgment?”
“Does the Taoiseach agree it is completely inappropriate for the Minister for Justice to act separately from an independent process and to make a finding about a complaint by members of the public about how they were treated by gardaí at the Mothers Against Genocide protest. It is quite incredible that the Minister came out and said footage shows that allegations made in the Dáil about strip-searching of protestors "were false". The Minister did not even claim to have seen this footage. He based what he said on reports from the Garda Commissioner. As Deputy Coppinger pointed out, the Commissioner has not seen the footage. In fact, there is no such footage. It is simply a question of the Minister for Justice hearing from the Commissioner that the Garda had investigated itself and - do not worry - found it had done nothing wrong.”
“A biology teacher told the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland, ASTI, conference that DEIS schools will be wiped out. Teachers are so worried about how unfair this is going to be that they are willing to go on strike over it. Will the Taoiseach intervene and at the very least impose a 12-month moratorium on this crazy plan so we can keep AI out of the leaving certificate examination?”
“The Government is drunk on the propaganda of big tech with regard to AI. It is so drunk that it is trying to force AI into the leaving certificate examination. From September, students will be allowed to use AI as an additional assessment component, which will be worth at least 40% of marks in many subjects. It is meant to be cited in the paper that AI was used but this will give a massive advantage to students from better-off backgrounds who will be able to pay for more advanced AI programmes to give them answers without them being detected and without them being cited. Additional assessment in science subject will require access to labs. Fee-paying private schools might be able to manage that but DEIS schools that can barely keep the lights on will not.”
“It was an absolute scam, which cost the people €34 billion and has left vulture funds and property developers hoarding all of the housing and development land that we need to solve the housing crisis. How on earth can the Government appoint Brendan McDonagh to solve a crisis he created?”
“People want to know what is so impressive about Brendan McDonagh's CV that he is worth almost €500,000 a year to be the so-called housing tsar. They will be outraged when they find out that his qualification is not experience in addressing the housing crisis but instead in causing it. He has been CEO of the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, since 2009, when he was appointed by the late Brian Lenihan. It took on loans on land and property originally valued at €88 billion. That gave the State control of almost all development land suitable for housing. Over the next 16 years, Brendan McDonagh flogged it all off for less than half the price. Some 90% of it went to US vulture funds, which sold it back to the same developers who took out the bad loans in the first place for far less than they originally owed.”
“Will he commit not to apply a guillotine in respect of any part of the debate on this legislation? Will he commit to full pre-legislative scrutiny and to not ramming this through the House to avoid debate?”
“Legislation to abolish the triple lock is included in the spring legislative programme. The Nice treaty would not have passed in a referendum the second time around without the national declaration promising to retain the triple lock the Government lodged alongside it. Will the Government hold a referendum on the triple lock before attempting to pass legislation here to abolish it? Is the plan to force abolition through - relying on the majority provided by Deputy Lowry - and then quietly withdraw Ireland's national declaration from international law? At the weekend, the Taoiseach said he would have no difficulty whatsoever in bringing to the democratic Parliament of this Republic a proposal to remove the triple lock. Does he include in this idea compliance with what is left of that parliament's democratic procedures?”
“I was bemused to listen to the Taoiseach painting his housing policy as a success rather than a deep failure. Housing construction, social housing, affordable housing - every one of the targets is being missed, while 4,675 children woke up this morning in emergency accommodation. That will affect them for the rest of their lives but the Taoiseach does not seem to care because rents continue to rise, prices continue to rise-----”
“However, at the same time, the Government refused to vote for legislation that would mean excess usage charges would be off the table and could not be introduced in future. People, therefore, would be right to be very suspicious of what the Government is doing. If it goes down that road, it will face a mass movement of opposition that will defeat it once again, so I advise it to give that up now. In an attempt to quell the anti-water charges movement last time around, a promise was made of a referendum to enshrine public ownership of our water in the Constitution. That was in the last programme for Government. It was not delivered and has been dropped from this programme for Government. It is a key issue for the water workers to know they are guaranteed that Irish Water-Uisce Éireann will not be privatised.”
“Raw sewage flooding into anyone’s garden is an obvious health hazard. It is not just affecting the family I mentioned but their neighbours as well. I dealt with a very similar case just a year ago. It was the exact same situation and the same lack of response by Uisce Éireann. It is exactly the type of issue Uisce Éireann is meant to be dealing with. Will the Minister of State look into that and ensure Uisce Éireann does its job? To go back to the broader point, on Tuesday night we heard from the Government that we should not worry as it does not have any plans to introduce excessive usage charges, which were stitched into the defeat of the water charges as a back door to try to bring water charges back at a later stage.”
“Since last December, I have been trying to assist an elderly couple in Springfield in Tallaght who are continually having sewage from an Uisce Éireann pipe flow into their garden. They have been trying to no avail to get Uisce Éirean-Irish Water to help them for over ten years. As the pipe passes through several people’s gardens, Uisce Éireann’s response has been to pass the buck and say it is not responsible, even though it is an Uisce Éireann pipe that is causing the problem. The council is no help to them either. On top of being totally unhelpful, Uisce Éireann has threatened this couple with criminal charges if they try to fix the source of the problem. Uisce Éireann is basically telling them to keep cleaning up the raw sewage, keep their mouths shut and stop annoying it. It is a totally unacceptable attitude from a public agency.”
“It is incredible to listen to TD after TD from the Opposition but also from the Government give out about all the failures of Irish Water, which are very real, and appeal for intervention by the Minister. I will do the same in a moment, but it speaks to the failure of Irish Water as an institution, the only real rationale of which was to take the public assets previously in the hands of local authorities, tie them up in a bow and prepare them for privatisation. That plan, certainly of full-frontal privatisation, was stopped by a mass movement of protest and non-payment, but we are still dealing with a litany of failures by Irish Water as an organisation and a lack of investment over a long period. I will give an example.”
“This is crucial to ensure renters benefit from retrofits and are not penalised in any way. There must be no renovictions or rent increases. This Bill ensures retrofitting will be a win-win for renters, who will have warmer, more comfortable homes and lower energy bills, while society as a whole will benefit from reduced carbon emissions.”
“They could avail of those under, for example, the national home energy upgrade scheme as well as low-interest home energy upgrade loans. On top of that, they are entitled to deduct retrofitting expenses from their rental profits for taxation purposes. The example Revenue gives on its website shows that between grants and tax breaks, landlords would only have to pay out around €3,000 of a €20,000 retrofit but they still cannot be bothered. They are happy to sit back and watch record-high rents pile up in their bank accounts. This Bill recognises that fact and so introduces an obligation on landlords to retrofit. They have not taken the many carrots on offer so now need a stick. The Bill also prohibits landlords from using retrofitting as an excuse to evict tenants or increase rents.”
“Cold, damp, unventilated homes generate mould and dust-mites which can negatively affect a person’s respiratory system and exacerbate conditions such as asthma and allergies." Ireland has the highest rate of asthma in the EU - one in ten children currently has asthma and one in five will suffer from it at some point. We also have a high level of winter deaths directly related to fuel poverty and social class. We need this legislation to force landlords to retrofit because they cannot be bothered to do it themselves. They are not the ones suffering in freezing, damp homes and watching their wages fly up the chimney in high heating costs. In technical terms, it is known as a split incentive. They effectively have no incentive to invest in retrofitting these properties. They are eligible for the same grants as other property owners.”
“improving a building energy rating of a home from E1 to B2 can generate annual savings to the household of €2,524 per year." That was written before the massive increases in energy costs in the last few years so it is even more now. Energy companies are still hiking up prices. The Government already said there will be no energy credits. One in three people are being left to suffer in energy poverty. The Irish Green Building Council explains that, "The physical and mental health consequences of energy poverty can have long lasting implications.”
“All it says, vaguely, is, "Ramp up our targets to deliver more B2-equivalent home retrofits each year from 2026 to 2030, with a focus on lower income households." It seems renters will not benefit even though they have much higher poverty rates than homeowners because it has deliberately taken out any mention of private rented accommodation. Last year, one in eight renters was living in consistent poverty compared with fewer than one in 50 homeowners while two thirds of people living in deprivation are renters. Continuing to exclude hundreds of thousands of renting families from retrofitting is outrageous. According to the Government's own roadmap for social inclusion to 2025 "...”
“This would implement the Government's own commitments in Housing for All that, "A minimum BER for private rental property will be introduced, where feasible, from 2025." The 2020 programme for Government also promised to, "Take actions to drive energy-efficiency upgrades in rented properties..." Unfortunately, the Government seems to be reneging on those commitments, just like it is doing on other important climate commitments like the ban on importing fracked gas. Some 10% of our carbon emissions come from residential buildings so retrofitting is vital to achieving our climate targets. The new Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Lowry programme for Government, a Government of landlords, by landlords, for landlords, is silent on BER standards and energy efficiency upgrades for private rented accommodation.”
“I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1992 to provide for minimum Building Energy Rating (BER) standards for private rented accommodation and for related matters. My office was first approached by the Irish Green Building Council about bringing in minimum BER standards for the private rented sector. I thank the council and Friends of the Earth, which has also been supportive of us introducing this important legislation. The Bill makes it mandatory for private rented accommodation that is not BER exempt to have a minimum D2 BER by the end of 2026, a minimum C1 BER by the end of 2028 and a minimum B2 BER by the end of 2030.”
“Some 3.5 million pigs are slaughtered in Ireland every year. We do not see them much because they are largely confined indoors, in big metal sheds. However, thanks to undercover investigations by the National Animal Rights Association and Animal Rebellion, we know what is going on inside these sheds, and real horrors are happening to these pigs. Six farms have been randomly selected and have had undercover investigations in them, and you really do not want to watch the videos of the kind of conditions these pigs endure: crammed together, tiny amounts of space, no natural light, not good ventilation, concrete floors, mother pigs literally unable to move because they are trapped in farrowing crates for long periods, tails docked in very unhygienic ways, castration, lying with abscesses on the floor and piglets dying and just left dead.”
“I am sure I will be very satisfied with the Minister’s answer. We are in April, the fourth month of the year, and the Minister still has not published the climate action plan for 2025. Will the Minister tell me when it is going to be published? What has the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael-Lowry Government taken out from the draft plan that was submitted last December, before it came into office? What are the big new actions in it that will close the massive gap with our emissions target?”
“We are looking at an increasingly privatised energy system where we pay through the nose for data centres to burn gas in onsite gas power plants. That is linked to the discussion we have already had about LNG. This is, of course, likely to be fuelled by fracked US LNG.”
“On the question of jobs, the Minister of State might confirm how many jobs are directly in data centres. Would I be correct in saying that there are fewer than 3,000 jobs in data centres? For a sector that is going to be using 30% of our electricity by 2030, the waste of electricity and water, and the impact that has on housing construction and other issues, is quite incredible. We recently found out that by 2032, 9% of gas demand will be coming from just the 11 islanded data centres that are currently connected directly to the gas network. If the Government grants permission to the two dozen data centres that have applied for direct connection, that demand will quadruple to 36% of gas demand. We are burning fossil fuels directly to run data centres.”
“That sounded like an admission that data centres are pushing up household energy prices. The Minister of State might confirm that the Government accepts that is happening. That means the crazy data centre policy of the Government to allow big tech to come here and dump as much of this 21st century toxic waste as it can is not only driving us further from our climate goals, where the extra energy used by data centres is more than the extra renewable energy we have added to the grid through wind power since 2017, but is also driving household energy bills even higher. This is madness in the short, medium and long terms. We are prioritising the profits of big tech corporations and the need for data centres, which provide very few jobs. They guzzle electricity and water.”
“It was recently reported that householders collectively paid approximately €454 million per year in capacity payments to data centres between 2007 and 2018. Since then, it has more than doubled to €1 billion per year. With 11 more data centres under construction and applications for 30 more, this massive subsidy from ordinary people to data centres is only going to grow. Is the Government going to do nothing to stop data centres from pushing up household energy costs?”