Case against apple data centre in athenry won't go to the appeals court

Two objectors to an €850 million data centre in Athenry, Co. Galway have been refused permission to take their case to the Court of Appeal.

They wanted to appeal the Commercial Court's decision to uphold the granting of planning permission by An Bord Pleanála. They claimed the planning board failed to take account of the potential environmental impact of the project as a whole. But Mr. Justice Paul McDermott didn't feel they raised any issues of "exceptional public importance" to warrant an appeal. Noel Doherty from the campaign group 'Athenry for Apple' says he hopes work will start straight away.