Ireland’s independent planning body, An Coimisiún Pleanála, ruled on the decision, thereby allowing Google Ireland to expand its data centre at Grange Castle Business Park.
In June 2024, the tech company announced plans to build a new facility on the site, adding a third building to its data centre campus. The plans revealed a 72,400sqm building, which Google said would create up to 50 new jobs once it was operational in 2027.
However, Google was denied planning permission for the project in August 2024. The council’s refusal was attributed to “the existing insufficient capacity in the electricity network (grid) and the lack of significant on-site renewable energy to power the data centre.”
The council was also concerned about the lack of clarity surrounding Google’s Power Purchase Agreements in Ireland, and the site not having a connection to the district heating network.
In return, Google appealed to An Coimisiún Pleanála (then An Bord Pleanála), arguing that it had already secured a grid connection for the facility in 2021 from EirGrid, Ireland’s state-owned grid operator. Furthermore, the tech giant said the council was unable to decide on whether the network has enough capacity for a new data centre.
Although the decision has been overturned, permission is still subject to conditions. Google must implement sustainable incentives that encourage staff to use public transport, cycle, or walk to work.
The tech company also needs to take measures that improve the campus’ ecological value and implement mitigation measures outlined in the project’s environmental assessment report.
Despite this, construction on the site cannot begin straightaway. The final decision may be reassessed in a future judicial review.
When the project was initially rejected, Google warned the deciding bodies that, without the new facility, the company would struggle to meet Ireland’s growing digital demand.
Now that the decision has been overturned, a company spokesperson said: “Data centres are an essential part of Ireland’s ambitious digital economy, and we want to support that. We look forward to the next steps as we continue to invest in our infrastructure in the country to meet the growing demand for our services.”
Google’s Dublin saga takes place on a wider backdrop of increasing restrictions for data centre development. As concerns for their energy use and environmental impact increase, and public pushback gets louder, many governments and regulatory bodies have pushed for moratoriums on development.
Restrictions are evolving in real-time to address these concerns, making new applications harder to achieve. Scotland has recently introduced mandatory environmental checks for large-scale data centres, in a bid to reduce long-term ecological damage.
The locations of data centres have also been called into question, as their proximity to high-traffic hubs often places them near suburbs or cities – like Google’s Dublin campus. Dublin itself has a moratorium against new data centre applications until 2028, which EirGrid introduced in 2022. This has resulted in rejected planning permission applications for companies including Servecentric and Equinix.
Despite the moratorium, Google is present in the Grange Castle area alongside Microsoft, Vantage, and Cyrus One, and Amazon was recently granted planning permission for a facility at its campus in nearby Fingal County.
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