Data centre planning applications in Dublin — what the register holds and what is exempt

Fifteen applications mentioning a data centre reached the seven Greater Dublin registers in the 36 months to 14 September 2026. Eleven were granted and three refused, a 79% rate, and nine of the fifteen were to South Dublin County Council, where the Grange Castle, Profile Park and Citywest campuses sit. Two were in Kildare, one each in Fingal, Meath and Wicklow. None is open for observation today. That is a small number for the sector everyone argues about, and the reason is that the register sees a data centre mostly after it is built.

What the files actually are

Only three of the fifteen are applications for a new data-centre building or a substantial addition, and two of those are the same Naas scheme lodged twice (Kildare 2460740, then 2460787, granted with conditions on 20 August 2025 after a year on file). The rest fall into four kinds:

• Extensions of duration under section 42 of the 2000 Act. A permission for a large campus is built in phases over its five years, and the operator applies to extend before it expires. Grange Castle has three on the register in the window, the latest granted on 21 July 2026 (South Dublin SD20A/0283/EP). The expiry guide explains the substantial-works test.
• Section 5 declarations. Monitoring platforms on the DUB07 to DUB14 buildings, flue platforms at DB03 and DB04, thirteen temporary generators at the Microsoft campus: the operator asks the council whether the work is exempt. Two were declared exempt and one, the generators, declared not exempt on 26 November 2024 (ED24/0060). These are decisions, and they carry the same right of referral to An Coimisiún Pleanála as any declaration.
• Supporting infrastructure. The "Regional Network Gateway" buildings at Castlebaggot and Profile Park are the fibre and grid interfaces for the campuses; both were granted in 2024 and 2025. An energy-storage installation at the Keppel centre in Citywest was granted on 29 July 2024.
• Refusals. Fingal refused a change of use to a data centre at Blanchardstown Corporate Park on 29 November 2023 (FW23A/0184), and Wicklow refused a section 42 extension for the access road to the Newtownmountkennedy site on 30 July 2024, which is the register's only trace of that campus.

Where the real decisions are made

The planning question on a data centre is rarely the building. Since the Commission for Regulation of Utilities' 2021 direction on data-centre connections, and the large energy user connection policy that followed it, the grid connection is decided by EirGrid and ESB Networks outside planning, and an application that cannot show a connection offer is refused on it or withdrawn before decision. The environmental question is decided at screening: a data centre over the Schedule 5 threshold for industrial installations, or with on-site generation over the energy threshold, needs an environmental impact assessment report, and the council's screening decision is on the file before the description is read.

That is why the register looks thin. The 2022 Government statement on data centres, EirGrid's position that no new Dublin connections would be offered before 2028, and the county development plans' policies on data centres in the 2022 to 2028 cycle all bite before an application is lodged. What arrives is what has already passed those tests, which is why 11 of 14 decided were granted.

What a neighbour can do

A data centre application is an ordinary application under section 34: five weeks from receipt to make a submission for €20, and a submission is the ticket to an appeal. A section 5 declaration is different. There is no public submission stage, and only the person who asked, or the Commission on referral, has standing; a neighbour who learns of one can ask the council under section 5(1) for their own declaration on the same question, for €80. An extension of duration under section 42 has no submission stage at all, which the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee criticised in 2019. The observation guide covers the ordinary route.

Frequently asked questions

How many data centre planning applications are there in Dublin?

Fifteen applications mentioning a data centre reached the seven Greater Dublin registers in the 36 months to 14 September 2026, nine of them to South Dublin County Council. Eleven were granted and three refused.

Do data centres need planning permission in Ireland?

A new building does, as ordinary development under section 34, usually with an environmental impact assessment report where the Schedule 5 thresholds are met. Generators, platforms and plant on an existing building are often the subject of a section 5 declaration instead, which the council decides without a public submission stage.

Why are so few data centre applications refused?

The grid connection and the environmental screening are decided before the application is lodged, and a scheme that fails either is not made. Of the 14 decided in the window, 11 were granted, and the refusals were a change of use in Blanchardstown and an access road extension in Wicklow.

Can I object to a data centre?

To an ordinary application, yes: a written submission with the €20 fee within five weeks of receipt, which also gives you the right to appeal to An Coimisiún Pleanála. To a section 5 declaration or a section 42 extension of duration, no; there is no submission stage.

Every file in the table above opens on its own page, with the council's document link. The exempted development guide explains the section 5 route the operators use; the expiry guide explains the section 42 extensions that make up a third of the table. See the Grange Castle campus on the Explorer.

Figures from the register on 14 September 2026 (live callouts refresh hourly); law checked 14 September 2026. Check with the council or a planning consultant before relying on this.