Microsoft Naas data center, Naas, County Kildare

Microsoft is developing plans for a data center campus at Jigginstown, near Naas in County Kildare, Ireland, on land that Kildare County Council zoned for data centers in the Naas Local Area Plan 2021-2027. The 54.55-hectare site, known locally as P2, backs onto Primrose Garden and carries an exclusive "P - Data Centre" zoning, but more than three years after Microsoft confirmed its interest in 2023 it has not lodged a planning application, the Kildare Nationalist reported in August 2026. Microsoft held a public event on its early concepts at the Osprey Hotel in Naas in November 2023, and in July 2024 said contractors were carrying out ecological surveys and ground investigations on the site.

When it confirmed the plan, Microsoft did not give the campus size or capacity, and said its preferred solution was 100 percent renewable energy through corporate power purchase agreements. "The selection of Naas will also help to build its reputation as a regional digital hub at the forefront of Ireland's digital economy," the company said.

Local opposition has grown in 2026. Campaigners want councillors to start a formal variation of the local area plan to remove the data center zoning before any application is made. "We're not against data centres as such. We're against a development of this scale, this close to people's homes, on land that could support a broader range of employment uses with less strain on water, gas and the electricity grid," said campaign spokesperson Sorcha O'Neill. More than 200 people attended a meeting on Naas data center plans at the Osprey Hotel on September 3, 2026, where speakers pointed to noise complaints from residents living near a data center in Clondalkin, The Irish Times reported. Naas Municipal District mayor Bill Clear told the crowd he had visited the Clondalkin site the day before, and said the whistling noise he heard "was almost like if you had tinnitus."

At the district meeting on September 8, 2026, Clear proposed that the council consider varying the plan to review the Jigginstown/Maudlins zoning, and the motion was referred to the full county council meeting on September 28. In a written response, senior planner Amy Granville said there was no evidence of a material change in circumstances since the plan was adopted, and so no basis for changing the zoning. On the neighboring P1 site, Kildare County Council granted permission in August 2025 for a separate six-building, gas-powered data center campus, a decision under appeal by both the developer and third-party objectors, the Kildare Nationalist reported. That €3 billion campus, proposed by Herbata Ltd next to the M7 motorway, awaits a ruling from An Coimisiún Pleanála, which is expected by January, The Irish Times reported.

The full Kildare County Council is due to take up Clear's motion on September 28, 2026. Clear has said he doubts a vote can reverse the zoning: "I will do it, but it will not work," he told the Kildare Nationalist in August.