County Galway's one well-known data center project, Apple's planned campus at Derrydonnell Woods outside Athenry, never got built. Apple announced the greenfield project in February 2015. Galway County Council granted permission that September, subject to conditions, and after an appeal and oral hearings An Bord Pleanála confirmed it in August 2017, RTÉ reported. The Irish Times reported that the €850 million project was expected to employ 150 technical staff once finished and would have been the largest single private-sector investment in Connacht. More than 2,000 people marched in Athenry in November 2016 to support it after objections put it on hold.
Objectors, including Sinead Fitzpatrick and Allan Daly, challenged the board's approval in the courts. According to The Irish Times, they argued that An Bord Pleanála should have assessed the environmental impact of Apple's full masterplan of eight data halls, which would have raised demand on the national grid by 6 to 8 per cent, and not only the first hall. On May 10, 2018, Apple said it would not go ahead, blaming "delays in the approval process." The minister for business, Heather Humphreys, said the delays had "underlined our need to make the State's planning and legal processes more efficient."
Apple then tried to sell the site. With the original permission due to run out in September 2021, the company applied for a five-year extension, and the council granted it in August 2021. Allan Daly and the group Eco-Advocacy challenged that decision in the High Court. In June 2022 the High Court quashed the extension, with the consent of lawyers for both the council and the State, RTÉ reported. The objectors had argued that the council did not assess the extension's implications as EU law requires and did not let the public make submissions. The earlier permission has expired, so anyone who wants to build a data center on the land would need a completely new planning application. Kieran Cummins, director of Eco-Advocacy, said at the time: "The permission should have been reassessed in the light of this new landscape."
Projects not tied to an area
Sites whose records name no county. Everything else is on the pages listed above.
County Galway1
| Project | Company | Status | Power | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple AthenryAthenry | Apple | Withdrawn | Not reported |
Where this comes from
The reporting above was written from these. Open one and check it yourself.
Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.