Love Leitrim calls on TDs to support Brid Smith Dáil bill

Love Leitrim has joined Friends Of The Earth Ireland and others in a call for TDs to support Bríd Smith's Planning & Development Bill which if successful would result in an effective moratorium on new data centres and large scale fossil fuel projects like LNG terminals.

The bill would prevent fossil fuel infrastructure and data centres from being designated as “strategic infrastructure”. It would also seeks to update the planning process and ensure that the State’s climate targets are taken into account. It will be before elected representatives in Dáil Éireann on Thursday September 30th. People are also being asked to gather at at Leinster House at 5.30pm on the day in support of the bill. The Bill does not seek to remove existing infrastructure, data centres or stop necessary maintenance. It rather seeks to prevent new fossil fuel infrastructure and their associated polluting emissions from being ‘locked-in’ to the energy system for decades to come. 

Dr Patrick Bresnihan of NUI Maynooth has stated that If all the proposed data centres for Ireland were to be connected they could use as much as 70 per cent of Ireland’s electricity grid capacity in 2030. He also said "that while data centres currently represented 11 per cent of grid capacity, the energy used by those existing connections will rise to almost 30 per cent of overall capacity by the end of the decade. If all other data centres proposed for Ireland are allowed, their energy use would comprise 70 per cent of capacity on the national grid. This is compared to the worldwide situation where only 2% of electricity is consumed by data centres.

Love Leitrim Chairperson Jamie Murphy said "We are in an a climate emergency and biodiversity crisis. Following the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report published in the summer the United Nations Secretary General described it as a code red for humanity." We need our government and all of our politicians to act like it is an emergency. Supporting Bríd Smiths's bill is a wonderful opportunity for our government and all elected representatives to take real and practical action in the fight against the worst impacts of climate change. The development of new data centres ,which consume enormous amounts of energy, or new fossil fuel infrastructure is not compatible with building a sustainable future. We hope all TDs, including our representatives in this constituency, will grasp this chance to help make a difference for this and future generations. 

People can contact their TDs at this link 
https://www.foe.ie/takeaction/ no-new-fossil-fuel- infrastructure/

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