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A DRAFT VERSION of the government’s recent data centre report included several key aspects which questioned continued investment in the sector but were later cut from the final version released to the public.

These included the opportunity cost of supporting data centres instead of housing, calls for mandated sustainability targets on water and energy use, and the impact of farmland used for data centre development.

The Journal previously reported how this report, prepared by KPMG for the Department of Enterprise, did not include a section on the potential for higher electricity prices due to rising data centre demand, despite the terms of reference suggesting it should.

But new records obtained by Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan and seen by The Journal show that several other important considerations on the sustainability of data centres were also raised during the drafting phase and later cut from the final report.

One aspect raised in the draft version is whether the infrastructure support and investment provided to data centres “could be more impactful if directed toward public services like transport or housing”.

But this point, and all mention of housing, was cut from the final report, with the executive summary stating that the report “is not a cost-benefit analysis”.

Feedback provided to KPMG on the draft version from Department officials appears to steer it towards a more favourable view of data centres and their continuing development.

The report authors were told that the executive summary “needs to present a strong narrative” and “provides the evidence base that supports the position that we should continue to further develop our data centre landscape post 2030, in the context of our climate objectives”.

It was previously reported that this report cost the Department of Enterprise over €100,000 to produce.

Boylan told The Journal the emails suggest that “the government already had the answer and was looking for ways to justify it.”

She said that this approach “is incredibly short-sighted”, claiming that the government was “blinded by ideological commitment”. Boylan added:

They can’t see the pragmatic advice when it’s staring them in the face.

A spokesperson for the Department of Enterprise told The Journal that ”this study focused on identifying the economic benefits of data centres” and that it was “guided by a steering group that provided expertise and constructive challenge throughout the process.”

They added that this included “the review of draft reports, to help ensure that statements and findings contained in the final report were grounded in a robust evidence base”.

A spokesperson for KPMG said “it is standard practice for KPMG to seek stakeholder input and feedback from those who commissioned the report.”

Another aspect cut from the final report is a suggestion that policymakers should “mandate sustainability standards” related to data centres’ high energy and water use.

On water use specifically, the draft report suggested introducing “measurable and comprehensible targets for water use” as a means of addressing local community “perceptions”.

But in the final report, this had been changed to “transparent reporting on energy and water use”.

The Journal Investigates recently revealed that Ireland’s largest data centres used close to one billion litres of water last year, though even this does not provide a full picture of how much water all of Ireland’s data centres use.

Our investigative team has also previously reported how the European Commission has collected key metrics like energy efficiency and water consumption from data centres since 2024.

But much of this information is hidden from public view, after the tech industry successfully lobbied to classify it as confidential and commercially sensitive.

Some of this information is supposed to be made available at the national level, but Ireland has missed the first three reporting deadlines due to delays at the Department of the Environment in transposing the legislation.

Boylan told The Journal that “it is striking how much weaker the recommendations of the final report are” compared to what was included in the draft report.

She added that “there are serious questions to be answered about why the suggestions to regulate data centres were dropped” in the final version.

The draft and final reports also appear to reach different conclusions about the impact of data centre land use.

The former raises concerns with data centres’ requirement for “large, well-connected sites near urban areas”, which the draft report states “can limit availability for farming, conservation or community development”.

But in an apparent reversal, this same section in the final report states that “Ireland is sparsely populated” and that because data centres are located in areas zoned for industrial development, their impact on other sectors is limited.

And the draft report also includes a section on “non-domestically critical data centres”, which was later cut in its entirety from the final version.

These are data centres that are not “critical to domestic operations”, such as supporting government, finance, and essential services, and do not “underpin Ireland’s day-to-day operational resilience”.

Because of this, the draft report suggests that these data centres could move to other European countries “without disruption to domestic services”.

This is because the services that run through these data centres are not required to be located close to their user base, and that the milliseconds delay due to them being located elsewhere would have a “negligible impact” according to the report.

But this section does not appear in the final version of the report.

A spokesperson for the Department of Enterprise said the purpose of the study “was to provide further insights to inform policy discussions on data centres”.

This focus, the spokesperson added, “reflects the objectives set out in the terms of reference for the study” as well as the remit of the department.

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Conor O’Carroll is an investigative reporter with The Journal Investigates.

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