The Irish High Court ruled on Thursday, that Apple may proceed to build a 850 million euro ($1 billion) data center in Ireland bringing relief for the government after a two-year planning delay. Apple in February 2015 announced plans to build the data center in a rural location in the west of Ireland to take advantage of rich green energy sources nearby.
Planning permission was granted by the local council six months later, but a series of appeals blocked Apple from beginning work. High Court judge Paul McDermott on Thursday dismissed two separate appeals against the planning permission, clearing the way for the project to proceed.
A similar Apple center announced at the same time in Denmark is due to begin operations later this year and Apple has announced it will build a second data centre there. It has said it will be one of the biggest capital investment projects in the west of Ireland, providing 300 construction jobs and 150 on-site permanent jobs.
