Ireland's data centers used 23% of the country's electricity in 2025—nearly matching all residential consumption combined—and consumption jumped 10% year-over-year despite restrictions on new grid connections, particularly around Dublin. This matters because AI expansion is driving explosive demand for power-hungry server infrastructure globally, and Ireland's grid is approaching a hard constraint that could limit future data center growth or require massive infrastructure investment. The surge also raises questions about whether countries like Ireland can meet climate commitments while hosting the compute infrastructure fueling AI development—Microsoft alone reported a 25% jump in data center-driven emissions recently.