Error about single bat not enough to halt €1.2bn Ennis data centre – High Court

Dismissing the judicial review, Mr Justice Richard Humphreys commented that 'The Bat in Building 6C' could be an episode title in a Scandi Noir series

The High Court has ruled that an error in an An Bord Pleanála inspector’s report concerning a roost containing one Leisler’s bat was not sufficient to halt the Ennis data centre. File picture

The High Court has ruled that a report error concerning a bat located in a barn outside Ennis is not sufficient to halt contentious plans for a new €1.2bn data centre campus.

Mr Justice Richard Humphreys dismissed objectors’ claims that an An Bord Pleanála inspector’s error concerning a bat roost containing a single Leisler’s bat — which, in March 2022, was resident in a crack in the external wall of a barn shed in farmland near Ennis, Co Clare — should stop the Ennis data centre campus.