Bord na Móna is looking at the possible development of their Data Centres on their lands at Cúl na Móna outside Portlaoise increasing employment potential in the area, it has been confirmed.
Sinn Féin TD, Brian Stanley, has welcomed the potential development of the land.
“This is great news for the entire county which has been badly hit by unemployment in recent years. I met with Bord na Mona management, and the CEO Mike Quinn, a number of times, including twice in the past two months, regarding the development of Cúl na Móna and its strategic location,” Deputy Stanley said
“I impressed on them the need to have the 1,450 hectares in the Cúl na Móna group of bogs utilised for job creation. They have now brought forward ambitious plans for a portion of the area they own to be developed. The site identified at Cuil na Mona comprises 2 separate adjoining plots of cutaway bog of 37 hectares (91 acres) and 97 hectares (240 acres).
“BNM is offering a unique partnership opportunity to developers planning to construct new Data Centre complexes.
“The Cúl na Mónaa site meets their evaluation criteria – close proximity to high voltage power; proximity to dark fibre connectivity; direct access to motorway network; land banks of sufficient scale and proximity to urban environments and associated talent pools,” he said
“They have now brought the IDA on board to market this internationally and at home. This plan has massive job creation potential for Laois where jobs are badly needed. There is a lot of unemployment in the county and thousands commute daily to Dublin to wok,” Deputy Stanley said.
He said Bord Na Mona also assured him that it’s their intention to continue harvesting horticultural peat at Cúl na Móna up to 2030 and beyond.”
Ambitious
Deputy Stanley concluded “These are ambitious plans and I urge the IDA to market them vigorously to progress the project as quickly as possible.”
However, a Bord na Móna spokesperson said it is very early days yet.
A statement from the company said: “Bord na Móna manage 200,000 acres of Peatlands on behalf of the state. We have carried out an extensive review of our landbank in recent times as significant portions of that land become cutaway (where peat has been extracted).
“We are continually looking at innovative ways to best utilise that landbank for the benefit of the state. We have highlighted a number of potential sites for the possible development of Data Centres and are in the very early stages of working with the IDA in order to progress them. Cúl na Móna is one of these potential sites”.
Only recently Laois County Council confirmed that it had agreed to buy land close by to develop lands for enterprise at Togher.
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