{"id":13153,"date":"2026-01-17T07:20:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T07:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=13153"},"modified":"2026-01-17T07:20:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T07:20:07","slug":"ireland-is-trying-to-get-back-on-the-data-centre-bandwagon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=13153","title":{"rendered":"Ireland is trying to get back on the data centre bandwagon"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Every few weeks, electricians, fitters and welders pass through Dublin Airport to get flights to construction projects for data centres across Europe.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re part of a cohort of Irish workers in high demand for their expertise in building and fitting out facilities. Their employer, Kirby Group, earned its reputation thanks to the massive investment in Ireland by the likes of Microsoft, Amazon.com and Alphabet\u2019s Google that turned the country into a major data centre hub, one of Europe\u2019s biggest.<\/p>\n

The artificial intelligence race means Ireland should again be an investment winner, leveraging its longstanding relationships with US firms to bring in more money.<\/p>\n

Instead, it\u2019s missed out on much of the data centre boom as creaking infrastructure and a strained electricity grid put the brakes on projects. Companies have scrapped plans \u2014 or have been blocked by authorities \u2014 and officials estimate some \u20ac10 billion ($11.7 billion) of investment has been lost because of constraints.<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s past success at luring the world\u2019s biggest names in tech and pharma turned it into one of the richest countries in the world. If overseas companies start to turn away, the damage would be huge.<\/p>\n

Aware of the risks, the government is making a fresh push to get back on the data centre bandwagon. It has outlined plans for special business parks where energy-devouring projects can have easy access to clean power, balancing energy constraints with the need to stay attractive for investment. The move follows a decision by the energy regulator on new rules for electricity grid connections after a long-running review that left businesses in limbo for four years.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe risk missing an enormous wave of European AI and cloud investment,\u201d Niall Molloy, chief executive officer of Echelon Data Centres, which operates facilities in multiple countries, said after the regulator\u2019s announcement last month. \u201cIf they can\u2019t locate in Ireland, we are running the risk of major problems in our foreign direct investment and our tax strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The country is already living under the cloud of Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cAmerica First\u201d agenda, and worries that the policy will damage investment. While the concern has so far proven unfounded, the uncertainty remains, meaning Ireland can ill afford to give businesses reason to have additional doubts.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s an especially pressing issue because of the economic risks. Foreign-owned multinationals drive growth, employ more than 600,000 people\u00a0and are the main reason the government can run annual budget surpluses. Those companies accounted for almost 90% of corporate tax income\u00a0in 2024.<\/p>\n

The US government has taken note of\u00a0the infrastructure squeeze. Last year, officials\u00a0said that American companies see issues like energy constraints as a \u201cmajor barrier to growth and further investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The \u2018Silicon Docks\u2019 area of central Dublin. Photographer: Paulo Nunes dos Santos\/Bloomberg<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Data centres have been central to the energy issue. They consume about 22% of Ireland\u2019s electricity, more than all urban homes, and up from just 5% a decade ago.<\/p>\n

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The power tensions reached a head in 2021 amid growing concern about blackouts. The energy regulator, CRU, started a review, leading to a de facto freeze on data center grid connections around Dublin. Since then, only two centres secured a connection agreement from operators EirGrid and ESB Networks.<\/p>\n

A final decision on connections was published by the regulator\u00a0only last month. The clarity was welcomed by industry,\u00a0but there are concerns about new strict requirements.<\/p>\n

Operators will be required to install energy generation or storage capable of meeting their full demand, and 80% of each facilities\u2019 annual electricity must come from renewable energy projects in Ireland.<\/p>\n

That will put additional costs on businesses at a time when Ireland needs to be as competitive as possible to win back their trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve definitely not made it easy for data centres to then connect since we have both the capacity requirement and also the generation requirement,\u201d Steph Unsworth, UK-based senior associate at Aurora Energy Research, said of the regulator\u2019s decision. \u201cIt means there\u2019s a lot of additional investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Data centre operator Equinix Inc. said the CRU decision gives the industry the certainty it needs to \u201cplan, invest and support Ireland\u2019s digital and energy infrastructure ambitions,\u201d though it acknowledged that grid access constraints remain an issue. While Ireland\u2019s infrastructure has vastly improved, the problem is that it\u2019s been progressing from what was a very low standard. It was a relatively poor country for much of the 20th century, lacking investment resources, meaning work in recent decades has been a case of playing catch-up. And there are still huge gaps. In the IMD World Competitiveness Index, Ireland ranks 44th in \u201cbasic infrastructure.\u201dAnd after years of warnings, Ireland paid a real price last year when Amazon Web Services scrapped plans for a new industrial facility in Dublin. That decision was linked to a delay with a grid connection.<\/p>\n

Government promise<\/span><\/h2>\n

The government has acknowledged it needs to do more, and last summer\u00a0announced an infrastructure investment package worth \u20ac112 billion.<\/p>\n

It has the money \u2013 thanks to corporate tax revenue \u2013, but there are other roadblocks, from a shortage of workers to a cumbersome planning system.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Kirby is going where there\u2019s work. It built its first data centre in Ireland in 2007 and has seen rapid expansion in recent years. Revenue has more than doubled since 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of it started in Ireland,\u201d said CEO Henry McCann. But in 2026, \u201cmore than 65% of our revenue will be generated by projects outside Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2026 Bloomberg<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n

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