How an 'independent' report on data centres was rewritten to make it more positive - to suit the State narrative in favour of expansion... here's why we have now to be very concerned with such reports in the future

Published: 17:37, 7 August 2026 | Updated: 17:37, 7 August 2026 AN ‘independent report’ into the country’s data centres was rewritten after requests from the Department of Enterprise to ‘present a strong narrative’ to support the sector’s expansion. The Mail can reveal that there was extensive correspondence between the department, which spent €100,000 on the report, and its creators KPMG in advance of publication with significant revisions made to support increased development. The ‘Value of Data Centres to Ireland’ draft report was sent to the department on November 17, 2025. It included prominent warnings about pressure on the electricity grid, questioned whether incentives or infrastructure support might have greater impact elsewhere, and said large sites required for data centres could reduce land available for farming, conservation or community development.  However, these concerns were either removed from the executive summary and key findings sections or substantially rewritten and appear later in the published report. Documents, which were released to Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty under the Freedom of Information Act, show officials requested multiple changes to the draft report before it was finalised. The KPMG report had set out the benefits of expanding the data centre sector, but also included costs. It highlighted that €15billion has been invested to date, with €8billion to €10billion more planned. The final published report retained the sections highlighting the economic benefits of data centres, but several of the draft’s more critical passages no longer appeared in the executive summary. Deputy Pearse Doherty told the Mail that the requests from department officials ‘undermine every “independent” report that the Government has relied on to justify decisions in the past’. The draft report’s key findings noted that data centres accounted for 22% of the country’s electricity use in 2024, with this predicted to rise to 33% by 2030. This was not in the key findings of the published version, though it did appear elsewhere. On December 9, KPMG told officials that ‘all comments from the marked-up version of the report you shared have been addressed’. But two days later, the Department of Enterprise replied that the executive summary still needed to ‘present a strong narrative’ supporting further development of data centres beyond 2030. Officials said that while they believed there is a ‘significant body of evidence being presented... we have concerns regarding the clarity and communication of the messages/insights being drawn’ from the research in the draft report. ‘In particular, the Exec Summary needs to present a strong narrative that considers the full gamut of the economic analysis 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,’ they wrote. On December 19, a KPMG consultant said that a revised executive summary ‘incorporates the feedback we discussed’ and committed to sending a full report after the Christmas break. Following its publication, Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke said the ‘independent report’ demonstrates that data centres are a ‘critical component of Ireland’s digital infrastructure’. Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke said the ‘independent report’ demonstrates that data centres are a ‘critical component of Ireland’s digital infrastructure’ Deputy Doherty told the Mail that the requests from department officials ‘undermine every “independent” report that the Government has relied on to justify decisions in the past’. He said the Government wasted €100,000 of taxpayers’ money ‘to tell them what they want to hear’. The Department of Enterprise told the Mail that it was ‘normal practice’ for the report to be guided by a steering group which involved Government officials. A spokesman for KPMG said: ‘It is standard practice for us to seek stakeholder input and feedback from those who commissioned the report.’ Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.