Ireland’s Supreme Court has rejected a request to appeal the planning approval for Art Data Centres’ proposed €1.6 billion campus outside Ennis, County Clare, bringing the lengthy legal challenge to an end.

Opponents of the plan, which will see a 200MW data centre campus constructed just outside Ennis in County Clare, were hoping that it would be able to block the proposals on environmental grounds. Unfortunately for them, the court rejected its application for an appeal, noting that it did not meet the constitutional threshold for a further appeal. 

The decision follows the High Court’s dismissal of the judicial review in March 2026 and its refusal of permission to appeal in May. It also means that Art Data Centres’ has finally cleared the last legal hurdle to its proposed plans, meaning it can finally proceed. 

It’s been a long time coming too, as it initially received approval for the development back in April 2024. That would see six data centre buildings built on the 145-acre site, together with an electricity substation, energy centre and facilities intended for vertical farming and heat reuse.

Art Data Centres estimates that the scheme could support up to 1,200 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent jobs once operational.

Electricity connections remain outstanding

While the scheme now has the formal go-ahead, Art Data Centres is unlikely to be sending in the diggers just yet. That’s because the site still needs to secure the electricity connection it needs to power the data centres. 

Company founders Tom McNamara and Vincent Fogarty are hoping to have that secured shortly, with construction expected to start in 2027 once the remaining arrangements are in place.

The approved scheme includes a 110kV substation, a 120MW gas-fired generation facility and 66 emergency diesel generators, but the initial plans were all submitted before new rules for data centres in Ireland came into place. 

Those new rules could impact that gas-fired generator, as Ireland’s energy regulator is considering making new gas connections to large industrial users interruptible during periods of pressure on the gas network.

Additionally, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) introduced new data centre electricity connection requirements in December 2025, requiring new applicants to provide generation or storage capacity matching their requested maximum electricity import capacity, alongside additional renewable electricity sufficient to cover at least 80% of annual demand.

However, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities’ (CRU) decision allows qualifying applications already being processed when the rules were introduced to proceed under Ireland’s earlier connection framework. That could potentially help Art Data Centres as it has been stuck in legal limbo for the last few years. 

That legal limbo could also ultimately delay the project’s initially expected opening date. Art Data Centres previously indicated that the first phase, including a substation and two data halls, could be completed and commissioned by the end of 2028 – whether that remains on track remains to be seen.