Trees win as Apple cans huge data centre

US tech giant Apple announced on Thursday it had shelved plans to build an €850m data centre in Ireland over a court battle with conservationists seeking to preserve a forest.

“Several years ago we applied to build a data centre at Athenry. 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,” the company said.

“While disappointing, this setback will not dampen our enthusiasm for future projects in Ireland as our business continues to grow.”

The Silicon Valley giant believed it had the green light in October when a judge dismissed appeals brought by three campaigners, who were concerned about the environmental effect of the project, which was to occupy nearly 1.8-million square metres, or roughly 40 Premier League football pitches, in County Galway, Ireland.

However, last week the campaigners won their supreme court bid for their appeal to be heard, delaying the process even further.

Apple said it was “proud of the many contributions we make” to the Irish economy and insisted it was still “deeply committed to our employees and customers” in Ireland.

Apple has its European headquarters in the Irish city of Cork, but has run into problems in the country.

The Irish government said last month that it was signing a deal for Apple to pay €13bn in back taxes as ordered by the European Commission, which said it had received favourable terms amounting to state aid.