Campaigners appeal decision to greenlight data centre for Ennis
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Environmental campaigners in Clare have vowed to step up their opposition to a planned data centre for Ennis.
A group of campaigners have appealed a decision to greenlight the project.
Members of Futureproof Clare were joined by the likes of Ecojustice Ireland, Extinction Rebellion, and Friends of the Irish Environment in appealing against the decision to grant permission for the €450m data centre just outside the town.
The appeal cited air quality, water consumption, poor public consultation, public health impacts, and climate and biodiversity impacts.
The group held a demonstration outside An Bord Pleanála's offices in Dublin this week.
Developer Art Data Centres has said 450 permanent jobs will be created when the campus is fully operational, and that up to 1,200 will be employed during construction.
The campus will comprise six data halls of 33MW each, an energy centre, and a so-called 'vertical farm', covering 145 acres and 1.3m sq ft. The 200MW project will take seven years to build if construction begins this year, the developer said.
Environmental campaigners and energy experts have questioned the sustainability of data centres in Ireland, with statistics showing their enormous power and water usage.
According to Central Statistics Office data earlier this year, electricity consumption by data centres increased by 32% between 2020 and 2021, and the increase between January-March 2015 and October-December 2021 was 265%.
The electricity consumption is equivalent to an additional 200,000 homes being powered, according to experts, while running one of Ireland's 70 data centres is known to be water-intensive because of the cooling needed.
However, both Micheál Martin and Leo Varadkar have hit back at critics of data centres in recent weeks, with the Taoiseach saying they are "not the new villain" and the Tánaiste saying "a lot of the facts are not coming across, unfortunately" when it comes to the power and emissions associated with them.
Futureproof Clare said it was challenging the decision to grant permission on the following grounds: failure to adhere to Irish statutory requirements, failure to have regard to relevant considerations, and failure to adhere to international and EU environmental law.
Member of Futureproof Clare, Mélina Sharp, said: “We are in a desperate fight for survival, humanity’s life support systems are crashing all around us. Yet it is with total disbelief and dismay that we are faced, almost on a daily basis, with news of decisions made by this Government which will cause even more harm to people and the natural world both locally and internationally despite having declared a climate and biodiversity emergency in 2019."