‘Consider data centres at brownfield sites on Shannon Estuary’

A SENIOR Fine Gael councillor has called for data centres to be considered for former industrial sites along the Shannon Estuary.

With the demise of Tarbert Power Station, and the move from coal to oil at Moneypoint, there have already been significant changes in the area.

In 2026, Nestle is winding down its operation in Askeaton with the loss of more than 500 jobs.

This, councillor John Sheahan says has left a number of unused brownfield sites.

Now, the Glin man wants these lands to be “shovel ready” for if and when new industries come in.

“Recently data centres have been put into (other) brownfield sites. There is one in north Yorkshire (in England) where they decommissioned a power station and it became a data centre. The same is happening in Spain. But there is no mention of what is going to happen here, or what will happen with Wyeth when Nestle finishes up,” he said.

“If Wyeth is not taken over, then we could have another brownfield industrial site on the Shannon Estuary. We need to focus on that,” he added.

Cllr Sheahan also pointed to an unused 220-acre landbank near Askeaton, owned by Shannon Properties, which needs to be ready for development.

Fine Gael’s council leader saw a motion passed at the last local authority meeting seeking a joint approach to get the Shannon Estuary economic taskforce report prioritised.

The ambitious report contains an outline of how up to 50,000 jobs could be created in the area by developing one of the world’s largest renewable energy hubs.

Cllr Sheahan said since the report was unveiled last summer, things have travelled at a “snail’s pace” and he’s concerned that it could end up being “just another report on a shelf”.

His council motion sought his own local authority to join with Clare and Kerry County Councils in coming up with a joint approach to apply pressure on government to ensure the Shannon Estuary is “prioritised” and the recommendations of the report be implemented.

One thing which is holding things up is the fact that areas of water have not been designated for various development.

It means, as things stand, if any investor came in, it would not be possible to show them which parts of the sea in Ireland’s jurisdiction can see development.

Cllr Sheahan said: “It’s been held up for some reason by the Department of the Environment under the stewardship of Minister Eamon Ryan. At cabinet, prior to Christmas, Simon Coveney, who was Enterprise Minister acknowledged this needs to be expedited. Now they are coming up saying they will review it by the end of 2024.”

The Glin-based councillor says it’s frustrating to see this delay.

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He said: “A large extension is needed at Foynes Port in the order of €500m to manage all of what has been proposed. We need to know is this project is going ahead.”

Elsewhere, Shannon LNG has confirmed that it has begun pre-application consultation with An Bord Pleanála regarding the development of a liquefied natural gas terminal and power station in north Kerry, near Ballylongford - but only to be used in emergencies.

Permission was refused for a development at the 600-acre site last year, with the planning authority saying the decision was based on government policy around fracked gas.

Upon its entry into government in 2020, a red-line issue for the Green Party was the development of Shannon LNG.