An Bord Pleanála, an Irish planning authority, has decided not to conduct an oral hearing regarding the plan proposed by Amazon Web Services (AWS) to develop three new data centres in the north of Dublin. Last year, despite resistances from a number of groups, Fingal County Council allowed planning permission to Universal Developers LLC, an AWS company, for the creation of three data centre buildings on a 65-acre land at Cruiserath Road, Dublin 15, combining a power load of 73MW for the AWS facility
Five different entities objected to this planning permission grant and lodged appeals including Earth’s advocates, Fingal One Future Group, Dr Colin Doyle, John Conway, Mannix Coyne, and the Louth Environmental Group. Jerry MacEvilly, the policy chief of Earth’s advocates, requested An Bord Pleanála for an oral hearing.
MacEvilly informed the appeals board that the suggested establishment could place heavy strains on the electricity’s decarbonisation sector and questioned its compliance with the increasingly tough carbon budgets. Despite this, the board stated in a letter that the appeal will be determined through written procedures, without the need for an oral hearing. The board emphasised its discretion in deciding whether an oral hearing is necessary, typically in complex cases or where written submissions need to be further discussed.
The objections were registered in October last year, and the board has deferred a decision twice in this case. Originally, they intended to reach a decision by May 10th but couldn’t manage the revised timeline due to a backlog of cases. The board reassured parties involved that the case will be concluded as soon as feasible.
Recent reports indicate that the Irish branch of AWS’s data centre business saw a growth of €1.22 billion or 25 per cent, reaching €6.08 billion last year.
The financial reports from Amazon Data Services Ireland (ADSI) Ltd demonstrate a correlation between rising revenues and an increase in operational profits, which went up by 21 per cent to reach €40.07 million.