*An artist’s impression of the Ennis Data Centre.
AN BORD PLEANÁLA has conceded there is a flaw in the planning permission it granted for a €1.2bn data centre campus in Ennis.
A legal challenge to the High Court was mounted by three local environmentalists and two NGOs over the approval of the Data Centre.
This week, the planning board’s barrister, Christopher Hughes, instructed by Fieldfisher solicitors, said it is no longer opposing the court action. Developer Art Data Centres Ltd, through its counsel Damien Keaney, asked the court for an adjournment to consider how to respond to the move.
Ms Justice Emily Farrell heard the planning body’s concession relates to its acknowledgement of a failure to properly consider the development’s effects on the environment, specifically in relation to bats. She adjourned the case to a date later in October.
The five court challengers, all represented by FP Logue solicitors, made various claims about how An Bord Pleanála dealt with the data centre planning application. They cited the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act in support of their contention that the board failed to perform its functions in line with the State’s climate action plan and other green objectives.
At the hearing to take place later this month, the developers Art Data Centres will have to determine if they wish to continue to defend the case without the planning authority. In the event that they don’t and the planning permission is quashed, they have the option to have the application remitted to An Bord Pleanála for fresh consideration. This would involve a fresh inspector’s report and the board deciding whether to grant permission or not, based on the new report.
In April, An Bord Pleanála had granted planning permission for the campus which was to comprise of six data halls of 33mw each, an Energy Centre and Vertical Farm designed on a flexible and modular basis, covering 145 acres and 1.3 million sq ft. The planning, strategic assessment and zoning processes took six years prior to this.
Johnny Flynn resigned from the Board of Ennis 2040 DAC in September 2022 over long-term concerns with the proposed Ennis Data Centre which was a priority project for the Ennis 2040 strategy. He said he highlighted concerns to Clare County Council and later An Bord Pleanála since January 2019 that the proposal should have zero emissions using low carbon renewable energy as its primary source of energy and that other infrastructure and environmental concerns needed to be resolved.
Speaking to The Clare Echo this week, the former county councillor pointed out he was one of seventeen people to make a submission in the two month period after the Council lodged a zoning application for the Ennis Data Centre. He said he was “very pleased” that it was finally acknowledged appropriate environmental assessments were not carried out. He claimed that €2m has already been spent over the past seven years in developing the plans, “a lot of the time and money could have been saved if environmental concerns were taken on board”.
Flynn pointed out that Ennis 2040 DAC were “very supportive” of the plans and that the development this week is a big setback for the DAC, he predicted that the DAC’s plans for Abbey Street and Parnell Street car parks “will fail on environmental grounds”.
Clare Green Party had been among those to object to the development, “I’m so delighted that the challenge was successful and very grateful to all who brought it to judicial review” said Bridget Ginnity, Green Party representative for Ennis. “Futureproof Clare expressed concern about bats and fortunately the applicant made a basic error regarding legislative requirements. This and other circumstances, primarily related to climate, led to the decision by An Bord Pleanála to cede”.
Bridget added, “Many councillors and the executive within Clare County Council did not listen to the scientifically sound objections we raised. The fact that the data centre would use more electricity than the rest of the county and that the emissions would dwarf those of agriculture in Clare did not mean anything to them. Much was said about the jobs but we should be creating jobs that reduce our emissions, not increase them. The mitigation proposed by the applicant was pathetic. The district heating was unworkable on several fronts, the solar heating was the same as about 10 houses, the vertical farm would have cheaper to heat with a gas burner and their rain water collection was only for when they had used up all our town water. I really hope that if the developers are foolish enough to reapply, that the Council will listen to the other side of the story”.
