Undeterred by objections to a proposed data centre campus in Dublin, Amazon is looking to build yet another data centre in the capital.
The planned 88,500 sq ft data centre – which could cost as much as €45m – will neighbour another Amazon data centre on a site in Tallaght, in the south of the city.
The premises will add to Amazon’s tally of existing and planned data centres in Dublin, and continues to propel its total investment in Ireland to well over €1bn.
Aside from its data centres here, the company has a significant office presence in Dublin and Cork, and employs close to 2,000 people in Ireland.
The web services and internet shopping giant has focused much of its Irish data centre development in Tallaght.
It acquired a former Tesco distribution centre in the suburb in 2010, and converted it to a 22,300 sq m data centre.
In 2016, it began preparing the former Jacob’s biscuits site in Tallaght for a data centre project.
It was granted planning permission in 2016 for a 22,000 sq m data centre at the location.
It also converted a site in Tallaght that was formerly home to Shinko Microelectronics to a data centre.
Last year, the Irish Independent revealed that Amazon was planning what could be a €1bn data centre complex in Mulhuddart, north-west of Dublin city centre.
Amazon initially submitted plans for a 223,000 sq ft data centre there that could cost as much as €200m to develop. But under a plan called ‘Project G’, Amazon said that it might build up to seven data centres at the location, which is owned by the IDA.
However, plans for the initial ‘Project G’ data centre in Mulhuddart were objected to by Allan Daly, the Galway-based engineer who was a key opponent of the planned €1bn Apple data centre in Athenry.
That planned Apple data centre has now been shelved because of the long planning delay associated with the project.
Objecting to the Amazon data centre last year, Mr Daly said that Fingal County Council should not grant permission for the huge development until an assessment of Ireland’s renewable energy framework, currently being undertaken by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, is completed.
The planned Amazon data centre at Mulhuddart was approved by Fingal County Council last April, but the decision to grant permission was appealed by Mr Daly and separately by a Dublin-based architect.
An Bord Pleanála had intended to make a decision on the development by last November 24. That’s been pushed back and a new decision date is still not available from the planning watchdog.
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