Intel gets green light for new €3.63 billion facility
By Brendan Grehan
INTEL in Leixlip has been granted planning permission by An Bord Pleanála for its proposed new €3.63bn manufacturing fabrication (FAB) facility.
Local farmer, Thomas Reid, appealed Kildare County Council’s decision last June to grant permission for the plant.
ABP found that the plan would constitute a reasonable and orderly expansion of the existing manufacturing use at the location.
Three years ago, Intel secured planning permission for the first phase of the €3.63bn facility.
The two phases of the facility will employ 6,000 construction workers at peak and 1,600 full-time jobs on completion.
The projects represent the largest single private investment in the history of the State on one project.
Consultants for Intel told Kildare County Council that the firm has already invested €11.3 billion on its site at Leixlip.
An Bord Pleanála gave the plan the go-ahead after concluding that the proposal accords with national, regional and local planning policy and would not be injurious to amenities of the area or property in the vicinity.
The board’s order upheld the recommendation to grant by Senior Planning inspector, Paul Caprani at the end of his 83-page report.
The application is the eighth Intel Leixlip application Mr Reid has objected to since 2012 with six previous Intel applications brought before An Bord Pleanála by Reid.
Reid unsuccessfully opposed the first phase of the (FAB) plan in 2017 when lodging an objection against the application and then appealing the Council decision to An Bord Pleanála.
A spokeswoman for Intel said the company “welcome the decision by An Bord Pleanála to grant permission to our planning application”.
She added: “In December 2018 we stated that Intel was in the early planning phase for manufacturing site expansions in Oregon, Ireland and Israel, with multi-year construction activities expected to begin in 2019.
“Following on from this update, in Ireland, we are progressing with the early phases of a multiyear construction activity.
As always, site expansion and the related investment will be taken in stages and are subject to change based on business, economic and other factors.”
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