Google Dublin data center, Dublin, County Dublin

Google's data center at Grange Castle Business Park in Dublin, Ireland, has operated since 2012, after being announced in 2011, and employs about 150 people. In August 2024 South Dublin County Council refused planning permission for a new Google data centre on the same site, a 72,400 square metre building with data halls and a high voltage compound. The council cited insufficient national grid capacity, a lack of renewable energy commitments, unclear engagement on power purchase agreements, no connection to a district heating network, and inadequate detail on how the plant would affect the power supply once operational in 2027. The decision issued on September 2, 2024 also took issue with the design in relation to its surroundings, and Google had four weeks to appeal.

Google had sought ten year permission, and told the council that without the project meeting customer demand for its cloud services would become difficult. Google appealed on September 18, 2024, the last day allowed; the expansion is the third phase of its Grange Castle campus and would bring 800 construction jobs and 50 permanent ones, RTÉ reported. "We have filed an appeal to the recent decision by South Dublin County Council to reject the expansion of our existing data centre in Ireland," a Google Ireland spokeswoman said. Councillor Madeleine Johansson said councillors had previously voted to ban further data centre development in the area, but the government overturned that decision. Teachta Dala Gino Kenny said data centres are expected to use 27 percent of Ireland's electricity by 2028.

Behind the refusal is a national power problem. Ireland had halted new data centre grid connections since 2021, after a surge in electricity demand from the sector. Data centres now take almost a quarter of Ireland's electricity, more than all urban households put together, against about 5 percent a decade ago. On December 12, 2025 the Commission for Regulation of Utilities ended the ban. A new data centre must now install generation or battery storage on site able to meet its full electricity demand and give power back to the grid when needed, and at least 80 percent of each facility's annual electricity must come from new renewable projects, with annual reports on renewable use and carbon emissions. The government planned legislation to let data centres generate power independently of the grid, which at present only the grid operator may transmit. Industry groups had argued through the freeze that Ireland was missing out on global capital during a building boom.

The decision on Google's expansion now rests with the national planning appeals board, An Bord Pleanála, since renamed An Coimisiún Pleanála, which lists Google Ireland as the first-party appellant in case 320852.