The long running story of Apple’s once planned €850 million data centre in Athenry has come to a conclusion as the Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal against the decision to grant planning permission.
Two local residents had appealed against the manner in which An Bord Pleanála granted planning permission for the first phase of the data centre.
After previously losing at the High Court, Sinead Fitzpatrick and Allan Daly appealed to the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case.
The Irish Times reports that the five judge panel has unanimously dismissed the appeal, and added that no matters of law would need to be referred to the Court of Justice of the EU.
Apple announced that it was no longer pursuing plans for the data centre just before this was first due the Supreme Court.
The court still agreed to hear the case, with the state applying to be joined to the case in support of the board’s decision, because it could have an impact on how the board grants permission for future data centre projects.
The core issue of the appellants case was whether An Bord Pleanála carried out the appropriate environmental assessment for granting approval.
The appellants claimed that an bord pleanala should have had to consider the environmental impact of the entire 8 data hall master plan, not just the simhle data hall included in this phase 1 planning application.
