Fingal County Council has refused planning permission for a data centre in north Dublin due to the significant lack of on-site renewable energy to power the development.
The council has refused planning permission to Servecentric for the data centre at a site at Blanchardstown Corporate Park 2 in Ballycoolin, Dublin 15.
The local authority refused planning permission as it was not satisfied the proposed development is in accordance with the Government Policy Statement on the 'Role of Data Centres in Ireland’s Enterprise Strategy 2022'.
The council concluded the proposal “would materially contravene” the Fingal Development Plan.
The council also refused permission as it was not satisfied that sufficient information had been provided to enable it to complete the process of screening the proposed development for an Environmental Impact Assessment.
Planning permission was previously granted for a warehouse/logistics unit in August 2022 and Servecentric was seeking to amend the permission to change the warehouse use to that of a data centre.
Amy Dunnigan, of Not Here Not Anywhere, told the council with Eirgrid already banning electricity connections for data centres in Dublin, and Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan calling for a ban on gas connections for data centres, “it is evident that this development is not future-proof and goes against the best interests of the country”.
John Callaghan, who was recently the subject of an RTÉ Investigates programme into alleged payments to objectors in the planning system, also made a submission on the application through his Sustainability 2050 entity.
In his submission, Mr Callaghan asked: “What is the compelling reason to build the data centre at this location?”
Mr Callaghan also asked the council to clarify how an electricity supply is already contracted to a data centre not yet granted planning permission, while other operational data centres cannot connect to the grid beyond a limited basis.
Linda Colleran, a senior planner with the applicant's consultant firm, Tom Phillips & Associates, told the council “the overall data centre development has been realised by highly renowned architects, designers, and engineers, thereby ensuring that the most sustainable approach to design, the environment and community engagement is fully achieved”.
An Environment Impact Statement (EIS) lodged with the application stated “there is no real likelihood of significant effects on climate arising from the proposed development during the operational phase”.
Servecentric is a privately owned Irish provider of data centre services.
A planning submission by Tom Phillips & Associates stated the new facility will employ 50 to 60 full-time roles “which will support existing clients and manage the infrastructure”.
The submission stated, “with the growth of private cloud applications, there is a latent market for these services and this will lead to significant employment opportunities in the Fingal region”.
