Facebook’s new 227 – acre data centre which will be based in Clonee, Co. Meath is expected to create some 2,000 temporary building sector jobs during its construction. The facility – which will become one of the most advanced data centres in the world – will rely solely on renewable wind energy to operate using the most cutting edge technology available.

This will be the second Facebook data centre to be opened outside of the United States; the first was opened in Lulea in Sweden back in 2013. The announcement will come as positive boost to the local economy and the Meath/West Dublin area as a whole.

Speaking about the announcement, the head of Facebook Ireland Gareth Lambe said: “Ireland has been home to Facebook’s international headquarters since 2009 and we’re excited to be investing further here,”

“We want to innovate in Europe and for Europeans, and the Clonee data centre will house some of the big breakthroughs Facebook has made in this area. Like its predecessors, this project will generate hundreds of millions of euros in economic activity and support hundreds of jobs in the local community.”

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton added:  “We have specifically targeted data centres as part of our Action Plan for jobs – this is an area particularly well suited to our climate and infrastructure, and holds the capacity to bring much-needed jobs and investment to regions where jobs are not growing as quickly.”

The new centre will cost around €200m to construct and there will be an initial 31,000 sq.m facility to be built with planning permissions already granted for a second building.

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