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<1% of demand

@paulmurphy_TD @higginsdavidw Uisce Eireann confirm - less than 1%.

@higginsdavidw Are you being obtuse or haven't looked into this at all? The 0.13% figure doesn't make any sense. Not just now because of growth but even at the time. In the same year one company alone reported a higher usage than Irish Water's total estimated use. dublininquirer.com/does-irish-wat…

"Huge" data centre use revealed to be 0.13%. Even accounting for issues raised in the piece, it still isn't "huge". 1) "38% of the country’s supply is lost through leakage". Ok, so 0.13% rises to 0.21% of the *delivered* water supply (0.13 / (1-0.38)). 2) "93% of Ireland’s data centres are located in the Greater Dublin Area" (GDA). Let's be generous and say it's 100%. The GDA counties are ~40% of total population. Assume that's the same for water use. 3) The 0.13% baseline is 2021 data, so let's add a 9% increase (89/82-1) for some additional data centres since. (0.21 / 0.4) * 1.09 That gives you 0.57% water consumption in the GDA. There's no way this number jumps to 5% or 20% (like electricity consumption). Let's have official *regional* estimates, as the piece calls for, but the number is highly unlikely to present a "huge" draw anywhere. CC @BiddyEarly @ChristineBohan @SineadOCarroll @paulmurphy_TD @Toibin1

@AnusShanus @liamcunningham1 23%

@EnergyViewIE @liamcunningham1 What % of electricity do they use?

Water restrictions in 6 Irish counties until the end of August. There are approximately 100 data centers in Dublin alone. I’ve no doubt they are being restricted first. Aren’t they……………… aren’t they?

@paulmurphy_TD Hi Paul - this has been clarified by DETE.

We need answers from Uisce Éireann (Irish Water) about water usage in data centres. Nobody knows or even seems to want to know how much water is being used by these energy-guzzling data centres. We need a ban on any more data centres. #BanDataCentres #HosepipeBan

@paulcolgan Heaping demand on a strained grid seems a bit much? Demand in summer is much lower in general. So higher demand is barely noticed I would imagine?

Data centres hate the heat - and draw more power during heatwaves. So what does this mean for Ireland's straining electricity grid? And has Ireland lost its allure as a location for these behemoths? I had a look for The Irish Times.⤵️ irishtimes.com/ireland/2026/0…

@Paul__Walsh This investment is not in an AI data centre. It’s in chip manufacturing.

The Irish government approved a new AI data center and are calling it an “infrastructure upgrade”. Post construction, Intel will create 300 new jobs out of the €5bn spend. That’s after they fired 125 people a year ago. RTE Radio 1 referred to this as a great investment in the tech sector.

@paulmurphy_TD Hi @paulmurphy_TD DCs use less than 1% of annual water supplied by @IrishWater

Can we report data centres? independent.ie/irish-news/hom…

@Toibin1 Data centres use less than 1% of water supply on annual basis.

Meta’s Clonee data centre in County Meath recorded an annual consumption of 657 million litres. There are 107 data centres in Ireland. At the same time, the government is imposing a hose pipe ban.

@SteveCranley @Toibin1 Yes - it’s less than 1%

@Toibin1 Is it possible to obtain the total public water consumed by data centres? I saw a "reputable" account dismiss the "data centres use a lot of water" narrative with the argument that they have their own closed loop systems.

@LexiAIexander The best estimate on how much water data centres use is less than 1% of annual supply.

107 data centers in tiny Ireland and they just approved another 43. That's why there is a water shortage now in a country where it rains 10 months out of 12

@CyclingForMind @Damokkles @CiaranCuffe Call it less than 1% so. Not many have been built since that report/study

@EnergyViewIE @Damokkles @CiaranCuffe So they are using more than 0.13%(old data) of Dublin's water supply...

Ouch! 80% of Dublin’s electricity going to data centres? Tom Parlon, chair of the Irish Data Centres Supplier Alliance needs reminding that his members cannot ignore environmental and consumer concerns. europeancorrespondent.com/en/r/chat-are-…

@SeamusTheCat9 @ConorReddy95 @CarlowWeather @IrishWater Facts and figures > hearsay

@ConorReddy95 @EnergyViewIE @CarlowWeather @IrishWater Not for the first time, socialist ideas collapse at the first hurdle. 😂

A six week hosepipe ban while data centres guzzle more water than @IrishWater can even estimate (they haven't put a figure on consumption since 2021!) Data centres are sucking up energy + water at our expense, creating very little direct employment. It's time to reign them in!

@rowlsmanthorpe EirGrid TSO in Ireland cms.eirgrid.ie/sites/default/…

@EnergyViewIE Thanks - where's that graph from? Be interested to see the data

Data centres accounted for 23% of Ireland's total electricity consumption in 2025, up 10% on the previous year Interesting that this keeps on going up despite a de facto moratorium on new grid connections

@ConorReddy95 @CarlowWeather @IrishWater Each site would be metered, they should be able as they are charged per unit consumed. Consumption figure is in here at 0.13% enterprise.gov.ie/en/publication… From my experience DCs use closed loop systems and very low consumption in Ireland, one of the many reasons they set up here

@EnergyViewIE @CarlowWeather @IrishWater Where are you getting your figures? Irish Water couldn't tell TDs what usage is today. The only figure they could provide was from 2021 dublininquirer.com/does-irish-wat…

@rowlsmanthorpe Yes because already contracted and operating data centres are still ramping their demand. They sign for their maximum import capacity and then add % each year till hit their max operating level

@EnergyViewIE I know but this is for 2025

@CarlowWeather @ConorReddy95 @IrishWater Absolutely correct. Data centres in Ireland use so little water - less than 0.5% of annual supply.

@ConorReddy95 @IrishWater I’ve worked in them for over 15 years, and all of them I’ve been in don’t use water cooling. Sadly the planning applications often contain usage that is based on other country usage. The WUE figures for Irish DC are wayyyy lower than other countries, same as PUE.

@ConorReddy95 @IrishWater Data centres use less than 0.5% of annual supply.

@rowlsmanthorpe There’s contracted ramp demand out to 2032/33 and has been since 2016/17. Will increase to 30+% of electricity demand