Apple Irish Data Center: Wins Irish High Court Approval; To Fast-Track Building Approval Within Six Months [Video]

Apple just had a bit of luck from the Irish High Court when it ruled in its favor and pledged to fast-track the approval for the construction of its data center in a forest on the outskirts of Galway County, Ireland.

In a show of support

Over 2,000 people marched through Athenry last Sunday to signify their support for the construction of an €850 ($939) million data center on the outskirts of the Co Galway town, the event took place a day before the High Court approved to fast-track a judicial review filed by three appellants, The Irish Times reported.

The appellants

The problem stemmed when three Irish residents, namely: Allan Daly, Sinead Fitzpatrick, and Brian McDonagh filed an appeal against An Bord Pleanála, a local planning body that gave Apple the green light to start construction of Apple's first data center back in August. After Apple's plans were approved last September, the appellants raised environmental issues against the project.

The Irish High Court ruled to place the dispute between Apple and the three appellants on the "commercial list." This dedicated section of the court deals with cases when more than €1 million is at stake. Such court must conclude all its proceeding within a six-month period, according to MacRumors.

Future plans

Apple plans to build its data center on Derrydonnell Forest owned by state-sponsored forestry firm Coillte, that was utilized for growing and harvesting non-native trees. Along with its planned development is the inclusion of creating outdoor spaces for educational purposes as well as walking trails for the local residents.

The data center Apple plans to construct in Ireland would be used to store European user data and to extend online services such as the iTunes store, App Store, iMessage, Maps and even Siri across Europe according to an Apple press release.

Apple hopes to have the data center operational by early 2017, but due to the legal impediments, if now faces, the project might suffer from a slight delay. Of the 18,300 European employees, Apple has 5,500 based in Ireland and pledged to add another thousand before 2017.