Power hungry: how Ireland’s energy crisis could restrict foreign direct investment

Experts say an unprecedented rise in demand for electricity coupled with the growing needs of data centres raise the likelihood of power shortages and risk making Ireland less attractive as a destination for multinational firms

There are 70 operational data centres in Ireland which have a combined energy demand of 0.9GW – about 11 per cent of the country’s total energy generation.

In February this year, Martin Shanahan sent a detailed missive to a government department raising concerns about “sufficient headroom”.

In his five-page submission to a review of the National Development Plan, the chief executive of IDA Ireland highlighted issues affecting the attractiveness of the country as a destination for foreign direct investment (FDI), including how the protracted judicial review process for challenging a planning application had become a “reputational risk” to the state.

Shanahan also ...