Possible jobs boost for Meath as Facebook plans €200m data centre

Facebook is to submit a planning application today for a large new data centre in Co Meath, in an investment thought to be worth close to €200 million.

Facebook said the announcement shows its continued interest in investing in Ireland where it has had a presence since 2007.

The social network already employs 900 people at its European headquarters in Dublin, which is its largest office outside its global headquarters in the US.

If approved, the facility near Clonee will likely result in the creation of hundreds of temporary construction jobs and many more permanent operations roles.

It has been reported that the social network giant is hiring electrical engineers with data centre experience to work at its Irish operations.

The latest plan is to build the new centre on a site in an industrially zoned part of Clonee. The company said it intends to draw on local renewable energy supplies, talent and fibre infrastructure. It has shared what it has learned about building energy efficient data facilities with others through what it calls the Open Compute Project.

The project is supported by the Department of Jobs through the IDA Ireland.