High Court dismisses appeal to challenge €1.6bn Ennis data centre

Decision clears all legal hurdles faced by the project in that court

In April 2024, An Coimiúsin Pleanala (ACP) granted planning permission to Art Data Centres Ltd, comprising six data halls covering 145 acres or 1.3m sq ft on lands adjacent to the Tulla Road on the eastern outskirts of Ennis near Junction 13 on the M18 motorway connecting Galway to Limerick. File picture: iStock

The High Court has dismissed an application by opponents of a €1.6bn data centre for the outskirts of Ennis for leave to appeal against the High Court, clearing all legal hurdles faced by the project in that court.

This follows Mr Justice Richard Humphreys dismissing the leave to appeal application by opponents of the data centre, Colin Doyle, Friends of the Irish Environment CLG, Futureproof Clare, Martin Knox and Christine Sharp.

In his 16-page written ruling, Mr Justice Humphreys dismissed the leave for appeal application after stating that further delay imposes uncompensable financial prejudice and delay on the backers of the data centre, Art Data Centres Ltd. 

In April 2024, An Coimiúsin Pleanala (ACP) granted planning permission to Art Data Centres Ltd, comprising six data halls covering 145 acres or 1.3m sq ft on lands adjacent to the Tulla Road on the eastern outskirts of Ennis near Junction 13 on the M18 motorway connecting Galway to Limerick.

Mr Justice Humphreys said that such prejudice needs to be viewed as particularly significant where the project has been delayed by two years already since May 30, 2024, due to these failed High Court proceedings.

Mr Justice Humphreys stated that no meaningful public interest has been identified in the leave to appeal application, and it is not in the public interest that an appeal be launched on the basis of a tendentious mischaracterisation of the trial judgment and/or a reprogramming of a party’s case by the introduction of new, unpleaded points.

Mr Justice Humphreys said the project has already undergone significant scrutiny at council planner level, council management, inspector, commission and High Court level through two modules.

He said: “There is something inherently implausible from the outset about an argument that seeks to condemn a planning permission as non-climate-consistent, when the developer has gone out of their way to structure the project so as to purchase energy from renewable sources to offset the energy directly used for the development.”

He said it is no doubt frustrating for the applicants for the leave to appeal “to have their climate arguments cut off at the knees by that response, but ultimately they need to save their forensic protests for a case where a less responsible development has been consented”.

A spokeswoman for Art Data Centres Ltd said previously that the total investment is expected to exceed €1.6bn across three phases, creating significant economic activity in Ennis, Co Clare, and the wider region.

She said: “The project will generate substantial employment during both the construction phase and the long‑term operational life of the facility — up to 1,200 in construction, thousands more in support jobs and services, up to a thousand permanent jobs and the under-pinning of thousands more in digital industries."