Planning permission will aid firm's plan to create 600 new jobs in Limerick
Planning commission approves new project from Analog Devices
AN Coimisiún Pleanála has granted permission to Analog Devices to build a new liquid nitrogen facility at its premises in Raheen.
The move clears a planning hurdle for Analog Devices' €630m Project FANFARE, which is expected to create 600 new jobs at the company.
Analog Devices, which revealed in its latest accounts it has a staff of 1,913 employees, was seeking the development to support the project.
Among other things, it will aim to increase the company's semiconductor manufacturing capacity in Limerick, strengthen Europe's supply of computer chip, and reduce the reliance on outside sources.
The development will produce purified liquid nitrogen, made by cooling the odourless gas which makes up most of the air around us, for use in the manufacture of semiconductor chips.
The American company said the application provides for the construction of specialist equipment and packages, as well as interconnected tanks, piping and other works to support the generation of high-purity nitrogen on site.
Earlier this year, Limerick City and County Council granted permission for the development.
But former Limerick senior hurling manager and local farmer Tom Ryan appealed against this decision to An Coimisiún Pleanála.
He claimed Limerick planners failed to engage with detailed evidence submitted on hydrology, contamination, ecological sensitivity, the vulnerability of karst – geology formed when water slowly dissolves soluble rock – over thousands or millions of years, and other impacts.
Mr Ryan also said scientific findings indicating pollution was affecting the Loughmore Canal adjoining his land were dismissed without proper analysis.
He claimed no ecological assessment of the canal was done.
Analog Devices contended that the development would not introduce any means by which pollutants could enter the stormwater drainage system and affect sensitive sites around the factory.
The company also said the facility would only store and vaporise nitrogen, which it described as a non-polluting substance.