*An artist’s impression of the Ennis Data Centre.
A GROUP comprising of three individuals and two environmental organisations is mounting a legal challenge against the planned Ennis Data Centre development, citing serious environmental concerns. The High Court hearing is set for October.
By Dearbhla Parry
The applicants, Dr Colin Doyle, Dr Martin Knox, and Christina Sharpe, along with Friends of the Irish Environment and Futureproof Clare, are seeking to overturn the planning approval granted to Art Data Centres Limited. They say the proposed facility poses an unacceptable threat to the climate, local water resources, and the region’s energy infrastructure.
To support their case, the group is fundraising €8,000 to pay for independent technical expertise ahead of the hearing. To date, they have raised over €3,000.
The data centre, located adjacent to the Tulla Road near junction 13 on the M18, would comprise 145 acres of land containing 6 two-storey buildings. It will include electrical and mechanical plant rooms, loading bays, maintenance and storage spaces, office administration areas, pump rooms, water storage tanks, and backup generators.
Planning permission was granted to Art Data Centres Limited for the 200-megawatt data centre by the Clare County Council in 2022 and by An Bord Pleanála last April.
In October, the group will argue the significance of the centre’s environmental impact. “I’m objecting on the grounds of climate only”, said Colin Doyle, a retired environmental scientist based in Ennis. The proposed data centre would emit 700,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases annually, as much carbon as over 50,000 people, he said.
The carbon electricity budget for 2030 is 3 million tonnes, and this data centre would fill 21 per cent of this budget. “They’re using 21 per cent of our electricity as we speak… That’s huge.” According to those opposing the development the overall emissions are “not considered to be significant by the County Council or by An Bord Pleanála”.
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) aims to attenuate the amount of gas emitted. According to the centre’s EIA report, they will supply a vertical garden, on-site solar panels, and district heating. Doyle told the Clare Echo that they would only attenuate 10 per cent of its environmental impact. He said, “The big beef we have is that it has a huge environmental impact, which is not attenuated in any reasonable way.”
“I’m not against data centres per se. I’m against data centres which are powered by fossil fuels”.
The group’s objections were rejected in March of this year regarding an error over a bat roost containing a single Leisler’s Bat residing in a barn shed.
“Our society will not collapse if we build fewer data centres, but it will collapse if we don’t stop emitting carbon”.
