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Recent, and not so recent, research indicates that Ireland is one of the most vulnerable countries in the European Union to energy supply-chain disruptions. Ireland’s Central Statistics Office identified
that the country was dependent on imports for up to 80% of its energy supply in
2024, something which will not come as a surprise to watchers who have seen the country systematically hobble its own energy production efforts.
What is surprising is that the Irish government has for decades routinely
subjected the country to political policies which have only weakened Irish
energy security. Successive Taoisigh have consistently prioritised international
climate goals over the affordability of the economy’s most basic cost unit.
The natural result of this systemic policy failure is a lived reality for Irish
citizens and business owners across the country. Ireland now boasts the highest
household electricity prices in the EU at €40.42 per 100 kWh. Not to mention
Ireland’s governmental instincts to tax everything under the sun leading to
inflated fuel prices. As of May 2026 approximately 59% of the cost of petrol in
Ireland is tax, for diesel it is 51%.
Despite Irish politicians’ commitment to international climate agreements and
the European Commission’s green energy transition, Ireland is still reliant on
fossil fuels. In 2024 fossil fuels met 81% of the country’s energy consumption, of
which 60% was oil, 36% was natural gas, 2% was coal, and 1% was peat.
Though Ireland remains dependent on these resources the Fianna Fáil–Fine
Gael coalition have consistently refused to consider the unthinkable option: that
Ireland reinvest in its fossil fuel industry for the sake of domestic energy
security.
Ireland relies on gas imports from Scotland, in addition to domestic extraction
at the Corrib Gas Field. However, the Corrib Gas Field is estimated to be depleted
by the early 2030s. With an impending domestic supply crunch only years away,
one might expect the government to develop a replacement. However at the
behest of the Green Party in 2021 Ireland banned the issuance of new oil and gas
exploration licences.
Some might say the Green Party’s insistence to ban nuclear fission in the
Electricity Regulation Act 1999 was the beginning of Ireland’s woes. The Irish
nuclear energy non-profit 18for0 has argued for years that nuclear energy
would lower energy costs and assist in Ireland’s climate neutral targets.
Unfortunately for the Irish public, the government maintained its anti-nuclear
stance consistently for decades.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin made recent public statements discussing the need
for greater energy security and that the government was open to the idea of
investing in nuclear energy. In Dáil Éireann, only days after his remarks, he was
questioned on this pivot and backtracked into standard rhetoric about
renewables such as wind and solar.
Facing a turbulent environment within his own party amidst frequent
backbench revolts, Martin about-faced again. His party now intends to produce
legislation that will remove the statutory prohibition on the development of
nuclear energy in Ireland.
However it is here that the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s words should
be echoed. It is too little too late. Germany shut down its nuclear energy capacity
and the CDU cannot commit to its revitalisation. If an economy as industrious as
Germany is reluctant to reinvest in its nuclear sector, then little old Ireland will
not have a hope in hell of starting from scratch.
Instead the Irish government now lauds the opening of the Celtic Interconnector
pipeline to import nuclear-generated energy from France as a solution to the
country’s cost crisis. The Taoiseach has further hinted at electrical integration
with Spain. While this all sounds at face value as a promising development,
Ireland’s grid capacity faces significant strain.
EirGrid, the state body responsible for maintaining the nation’s electrical grid,
has revealed it estimates that by 2030 approximately 32% of Ireland’s electricity
will be diverted to supply the growing number of data centres in the country.
Furthermore, it is believed that the intensity of data centres on Ireland’s
electricity grid has led to an estimated €360 increase in household energy bills
between 2015 and 2023. Further data shows that Irish households pay an
average 36.8c/Kwh for electricity and 7.6c/Kwh in network charges. By contrast,
data centres pay drastically reduced rates of 19.1c/Kwh and 0.7c/Kwh
respectively.
Interestingly, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), Ireland’s civil
service think tank, has identified that Ireland’s high energy costs are a result of
its dependence on gas. And yet instead of expanding Ireland’s available energy
resources, the government has consistently acted to legislate in favour of
artificial scarcity.
Consider for instance that in 2022 other EU countries sought to create LNG
terminals to secure their energy supplies following the supply-chain disruptions
of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Yet the Irish government was, and still is, late to
this development because of governmental commitment to appease the Green
Party by banning the installation of LNG terminals.
Instead of investing into domestic energy resources which would provide the
short-term economic relief many Irish businesses and households need, the
government is insistent that solar panels are the most efficient source of energy
for a country in which six months of every year is covered in rain clouds.
Regardless, whatever arcane ideological motives the faceless political parties of
Ireland’s so-called ‘centre’ actuall are, their consequences have been ruinous.
Now, in a world where the Strait of Hormuz is closed to energy exports, Irish
politicians appear to be clamouring and backtracking at the same time. The
compounding economic crisis they have engineered through artificially high
energy costs and consistent disregard for the interests of SMEs is slowly
reaching its boiling point. Additionally, Dublin has become increasingly
confrontational to its economic patron, the United States. The Trump
administration’s apparent aim to end what the Secretary of Commerce Howard
Lutnick has called Ireland’s ‘tax scam’ does not bode well for the Irish
government.
After years of climate action policies catered towards progressive voters, Fianna
Fáil and Fine Gael cannot even conceive of the fact that much of the body politic
has come to view carbon-taxes with chagrin. In fact, one government official
even stated amidst calls to cut the carbon tax that ‘it’s not a tax, it’s a fund.’ This
encapsulates Irish officials’ attitudes towards public monies. It is there for them
to take, whether you like it or not.
The sheer disconnect from the public is astonishing and unique in the EU. Left-
wing and right-wing governments alike across Europe answer to their
electorate’s demands and shape their policy provisions on that basis. Only in a
country as parochial and devoid of statecraft as Ireland could see the ideological
fancies of individual members of government trump the interests of the public.
Ultimately Ireland’s energy crisis is an artificially created phenomenon,
facilitated by the Frankenstein’s-monster approach to political policies by
successive Taoisigh.
Failure is a policy choice, and it one which Irish politicians have chosen
consistently. There is no sign that the rising cost of energy will abate. Though
European leaders might enjoy the temporary respite of energy politics during
the warm Summer weather, it is very much a calm before the storm. With the
coming Winter likely to see further cost increases, European leaders will have
difficulty explaining to their citizens why their sacred climate targets must
remain at the cost of economic deprivation. In Ireland the ruling Fianna Fáil–
Fine Gael coalition can expect their polling to crater