Data centres accounted for almost one quarter of the electricity consumed in Ireland last year, up from 5 per cent in 2015, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said today. A total of 7,663 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity was used by data centres in 2025, up 10 per cent from 6,973GWh in 2024. In total, data centres alone accounted for 23 per cent of metered electricity consumption last year, up from just over one-fifth in 2024.The latest CSO figures also reveal that data centres increased their electricity consumption as the year went on, from 291 GWh in the first quarter of 2025 to 1,991 GWh in the fourth quarter.Last December, the State moved to lift an effective moratorium on new data centre connections to the electricity grid, which had been in place since 2021. The Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) said the new data centres can be built if they meet at least 80 per cent of their energy demand annually through renewable sources of power generation.[ We should halt data centre growth in Ireland unless they use 100% green energyOpens in new window ]Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke said last month that the expansion of the Republic’s data centre network is a “strategic opportunity”. The Fine Gael TD was responding to a report commissioned by Friends of the Earth that said that electricity demand from data centres is adding €90 a year more to the average household utility bill.The 9 per cent VAT rate has been welcomed by restaurants but does the hospitality sector actually need it? Listen | 39:12The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) said recently that multinational companies operating in the Republic have invested significantly in equipment related to data centres over the past year, driven by the ongoing artificial intelligence boom.The think tank is forecasting stronger-than-anticipated domestic economic growth this year, supported by this phenomenon. “This investment has been linked to the import of equipment for data centres, particularly those used to facilitate [AI],” the ESRI said.“These would be, for example, the chips or the processors, or the pieces of material that are needed for the data centres that are here in Ireland,” said institute research professor Conor O’Toole.More to follow ...