Protest to take place at International AI Summit in Dublin next week

A protest is set to take place at the International AI Summit at RDS Ballsbridge on Wednesday, October 14.

Several groups are taking part in the protest, including People Before Profit (PBP), Your Tech = Their Deaths, and Pals for Palestine Ireland.

In a statement on their Instagram, PBP explained their reasons for protesting.

"On 14 October, the government is rolling out the red carpet for Big Tech at its International AI Summit in Dublin.

"They’ll talk about innovation and competitiveness. What they won’t talk about is the enormous amounts of electricity and water needed to power the data centres driving the AI boom, their environmental impact, or the role that AI has played in the ongoing genocide in Gaza."

"Ireland is already using around a quarter of its electricity on data centres, while households face some of the highest energy costs in Europe.

"Now Big Tech wants even more. We shouldn’t be building our energy system around the needs of multinational tech corporations while ordinary people struggle with bills and our environment is further destroyed."

 

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Your Tech = Their Deaths shared an Instagram post encouraging people to join the protest. They will be demonstrating for stronger AI regulation, data protection, and an end to data centres.

The organisation believes "AI should be for the people, not billionaires."

"Violence is not just missiles and weapons," their caption reads.

"It is selling land for data centres instead of housing.

"Stealing arable land when Ireland does not have food sovereignty.

"Violence is poisoning air, water, and soil, hurtling us ever faster into catastrophic heat waves and flooding."

 

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In 2025, data centres accounted for 23% of Ireland's overall energy usage, compared to just 5% in 2015. It is estimated that the energy consumption of these centres will grow to almost a third of the national electricity demand by 2030.

The event is an initiative organised by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, in conjunction with Ireland's 2026 European Union presidency.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tourism Minister Peter Burke, and Minister of State Niamh Smyth will represent the Irish government at the summit.