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IDA chief makes plea over Apple data centre in Athenry
Galway Bay fm newsroom – The chief executive of IDA Ireland has called for a shake-up of the planning system in the wake of lengthy delays to Apple’s plans for a data centre in Athenry.
The €850 million project was announced in February 2015 – but remains in limbo due to a judicial review sought by local residents.
Sinead Fitzpatrick and Allan Daly sought the review of the planning decision by An Bord Pleanala to grant permission on environmental grounds.
At the time Apple announced plans for a massive data centre project in Athenry, it also announced its intention to build a similar project in Denmark.
Over two years later, and the Danish centre has been completed – with tech giant Apple now considering developing a second centre in that country.
Meanwhile, the Athenry project remains in development hell over a series of lengthy delays – with many fearing Apple could be close to pulling the plug.
Two local objectors – Sinéad Fitzpatrick and Allan Daly – were granted requests for a judicial review of the planning decision by the High Court in October.
According to the Sunday Business Post, IDA Chief Executive Martain Shanahan is now calling for a shake-up of the planning system amid fears the considerable delays could lead to Athenry losing the project.
He says tight turnaround times are needed for big planning permissions – and the prospect of companies simply turning elsewhere is a very real danger.
The long-awaited decision on Apple’s plans for a data centre in Athenry is expected to be delivered in the Commerical Court on Thursday.
The death has occurred of the former Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora Martin Drennan, six years after he announced his retirement on health grounds. He was aged 78.
The Galway Diocesan Office confirmed the death this (Saturday) afternoon of the Bishop and Apostolic Administrator Emeritus, who oversaw the Diocese for eleven years.
Born on January 2, 1944 in Piltown, County Kilkenny, he studied for the priesthood at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, from where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1968. His brother Michael is also a priest.
Following his ordination, he continued his studies in Rome where he was awarded a Licentiate in both sacred theology and sacred scripture. He returned to Rome in 1980 to become spiritual director at the Pontifical Irish College for the next five years.
He became a lecturer in sacred scripture at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, where he continued to teach until his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin in 1997 with responsibility for East Wicklow and South Dublin.
Following the retirement of Bishop James McLoughlin, Bishop Drennan was appointed Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora and he was installed on July 3, 2005 in Galway Cathedral.
Outgoing Cllr Terry O’Flaherty (Ind) is on course to retain her City Council seat – and top the poll in City East.
With 33% of the boxes tallied, Cllr O’Flaherty is polling strongly, particularly in Renmore.
Michael John Crowe is ahead of his running mate Alan Cheevers for the Fianna Fáil vote, according to the early figures, although that could change when Doughiska and Roscam boxes are opened.
The Green Party’s Claire Hillery is on about 7%, with Fine Gael on 10% and Sinn Fein on 5%.
The opening of boxes for the local elections began at 9am this morning in Leisureland when the tallymen (and women) kicked into gear.
As regards the Galway County Council elections, the smaller areas are being opened first which means that the four-seater Connemara North boxes will be first in the pecking order.
It will be followed by Gort-Kinvara (5 seats), Connemara South (5 seats), Athenry-Oranmore (7 seats), Ballinasloe (6 seats), Loughrea (5 seats) and finally Tuam (7 seats).
The boxes in these areas will be opened and tallied in that particular order before being transferred to the Galway Lawn Tennis Club on Threadneedle Road where the counting will commence around mid-morning.
That is when the fun will really begin – although the tallies should give a good indication as to where most of the seats are destined.
As regards the city, the Galway City East boxes were opened first, followed by Galway City Central and finally Galway City West. These votes will be transferred to the Westside Centre by around 11am for counting.
There are 39 seats on Galway County Council to be filled with 18 on Galway City Council. The City Council count is expected to conclude on Saturday night but the County Council count – with seven electoral areas to be filled – could well go into Monday.
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