Ireland

Ireland's data-centre permitting path is grid-first and multi-track. A developer engages the electricity system operators early under the CRU's Large Energy Users Connection Policy (CRU/25/236, December 2025, replacing the 2021 data-centre connection direction), which conditions any new connection offer on dispatchable generation or storage matched to import capacity and on sourcing at least 80 percent of annual demand from new Irish renewable generation within six years of energisation. Planning permission goes to the local planning authority in the first instance, because the 2018 provision that would route large data centres directly to the national planning body as strategic infrastructure has not been commenced; appeals go to An Coimisiun Pleanala, the renamed An Bord Pleanala. There is no dedicated data-centre EIA class, so environmental impact assessment is triggered through the general screening duty where significant effects are likely. Standby generation fleets over a combined 50 MW thermal input need an EPA industrial emissions licence, building control runs in parallel with planning, and water and wastewater connections come from Uisce Eireann under a CRU-approved charging policy. Government policy overlays the path without adding consents: the July 2022 Government Statement and the January 2026 Large Energy User Action Plan favour renewable-co-located, grid-efficient projects.

National jurisdiction. Reviewed 2026-07-24.