Back in February 2015, Apple announced its plans to build a data center near the rural western town of Atherny to take advantage of green energy sources, but the iPhone maker’s plans got bogged down amidst a number of planning appeals that delayed approval, reports Reuters.
Ireland’s High Court ruled in October 2017 that the building of the data center could proceed, dismissing the appellants who then took the case to the country’s Supreme Court. That case was supposed to begin today.
According to The Verge, Apple had yet to even begin construction on the center. Apple was expected to face the appeal in Dublin’s Supreme Court on Thursday over initial approval of the planned first phase of construction.
“Despite our best efforts, delays in the approval process have forced us to make other plans and we will not be able to move forward with the data centre,” Apple said in a statement to Reuters. “While disappointing, this setback will not dampen our enthusiasm for future projects in Ireland as our business continues to grow.”
According to the Irish Times, the construction of the data center was supposed to create about 300 jobs over the different phases of construction and when completed, would have been staffed by 150 technical staff. However, in making the announcement to scrap the planned data center, Apple did say it would expand its European headquarters in County Cork where it employs over 6,000 people.
Ireland’s Minister for Business and Enterprise Heather Humphreys said, “There is no disputing that Apple’s decision is very disappointing, particularly for Athenry and the West of Ireland. The Government did everything it could to support this investment . . . These delays have, if nothing else, underlined our need to make the State’s planning and legal processes more efficient.”
