Data centres will bring much needed rates for Meath County Council but what is in it for the town of Drogheda? – McGinty.
What do Data Centres bring to Drogheda and the wider community? That is a question being asked by many people including the East Meath Labour Councillor Elaine McGinty.
Following the recent announcement that Meath County Council has approved a second Data Centre for Amazon at the IDA Business and Technology Park in Drogheda Councillor McGinty said:
“Over the last year Drogheda has seen the construction of a massive Data Centre on a site originally earmarked to attract industry and create local jobs for the town and surrounding areas. What we now have in place of the promised industry is a Data Centre and conditional planning permission for a further centre.
“While the centres will bring much needed rates for Meath County Council what is in it for the town of Drogheda and is their location adjacent to the historic River Boyne, the best use of this land?” she asked.
“The increasing need to protect and access that Data means that it is often stored for years and are subject to European Data Protection Laws. These are long term investments but they need to come with a return for the communities that they are placed in.”
“I would like to see a community park and municipal district sports facility developed for the area to help balance the large and ever increasing population of East Meath “.
“By their very nature Data Centres don’t create a huge amount of long term employment but they are often constructed using high tech infrastructure and cutting edge technology.
“It is these skill we need to harness and start apprenticeships from. I would encourage the linking of apprenticeships for local young people to these centres not just in construction phase but also in the technology and design. “
“Ireland, because of its cool climate and position on the Atlantic makes it a very desirable locations for data centres. All the major tech companies from TikTok, Google, AWS, Microsoft and now Amazon have selected Ireland as a data hub.
“However, Data Centres are heavy consumers of electricity and what unclear at this stage is what is the current and future capacity of the grid in Drogheda, what is the carbon footprint of these facilities and will the future development of housing in the town be constrained as a result of these centres? I have written to Meath County Council to express these concerns also.”
