A threat to the delivery of new homes in Dublin due to electricity constraints led Minister for Energy Darragh O’Brien to demand urgent action from EirGrid and ESB to close off risks emerging in the new year.
Mr O’Brien told national grid operator EirGrid and power supplier ESB he was “gravely concerned” after the two State-owned companies said they could not assure power for new housing projects in north Dublin once current spare capacity was used up.
“There is a risk that from that point, which could be later this year or very early next year, ESB Networks will not be able to approve new applications for connections in north Dublin,” the Minister said in an October letter to EirGrid chairman Brendan Tuohy and ESB chairman Terence O’Rourke.
“This situation cannot be allowed to arise,” he added, in correspondence released under the Freedom of Information Act.
The companies provided special assurances to the Minister in late November but only as EirGrid warned about “unprecedented” demand for power and ESB said it faced “significant” challenges to increase supply near the capital city.
North Dublin is the busiest part of the State for house-building and the area is critical for the achievement of new Government housing targets, which call for 300,000 new homes to be connected by 2030.
The pressure to boost electricity capacity comes amid surging demand, including from heavy industrial consumers of power such as data centres, which are buildings that house highly energy-intensive computer systems for storing internet, business and artificial intelligence (AI) data.
An €18.9 billion master plan for energy infrastructure was approved this month, including a €2 billion State investment in EirGrid and €1.5 billion for ESB.
But internal files from the Minister’s department and ESB Networks show tension over constraints on future electricity supplies for housing, in north Dublin particularly.
The Minister met the leaders of EirGrid and ESB Networks on October 9th, according to a department note. “The two chief executives described potential sources of additional capacity that they are investigating urgently, but were not yet able to confirm the extent of this capacity or when it would be available,” the note said.
Mr O’Brien asked them to return in a fortnight “and to be in a position to reassure him that there is a clear path to meeting connections applications from new housing and enterprise applicants for the foreseeable future”.
Mr Tuohy and Mr O’Rourke each wrote separately to the Minister on November 5th. Mr Tuohy said: “I can confirm that EirGrid can facilitate the processing of demand request applications … for north Dublin in 2026.”
Mr O’Rourke cited “additional actions jointly identified”, saying he was confident ESB Networks will be in a position to respond to the predicted level of applications.
Asked about the correspondence, the Minister’s office said: “The two grid companies have devised a set of actions, now in progress, which will ensure that these essential new connections will be available.”
Replying to questions, EirGrid said it was supporting ESB Networks to facilitate connections of new domestic housing and small businesses to the network. “Our engagement with our partners and stakeholders will continue to be solutions-focused and in line with Government policy,” EirGrid said.
ESB Networks said no housing developers will have their application rejected due to network constraints but said there were requirements “in some cases” to carry out reinforcement work on the power distribution or transmission networks in advance.
“The number of houses and apartments connected by ESB Networks in the year to the end of November 2025 was over 16 per cent higher than the 2024 figure nationwide, with the Dublin area again being the busiest for new connections,” ESB Networks added.
“We are advising developers to give ESB Networks as much notice of their requirements as possible, and to have a connection agreement with ESB Networks in place prior to starting a new development.”