Google Invests €150 million in Dublin Data Centre Expansion

Continued commitment to Ireland brings capital investment to €1 Billion

• Ministers Heather Humphreys TD and Pat Breen TD turn the sod on Google’s €150m expansion of its data centre at Grange Castle, Dublin.
• New report from Copenhagen Economics shows positive impact of investment: almost 5,000 the number of jobs that have been supported by Google’s Irish data centre operations since 2011.

Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys TD, was joined today by Pat Breen TD, Minister of State for Trade, Business and EU Digital Single Market, in turning the sod on a €150m expansion of Google’s second data centre at Grange Castle, South County Dublin.

The new facility will create approximately 400 jobs at peak during its construction and take approximately 16 months to complete, by which time the data centre will bring Google’s total capital investment in Ireland to €1bn since 2003.

Today also saw the release of a report by Copenhagen Economics into the impact of Google’s data centres on the Irish economy, which found that for the years 2011-2017, the facility represented:

• A €350 million direct investment in construction and operations.
• A €400 million contribution to Ireland’s GDP (avg €55 million per year).
• A total of 4,900 jobs supported both directly and indirectly (average 700 jobs per year).

Speaking at the launch, Heather Humphreys TD, Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation said, “Fifteen years after first establishing an office here in Ireland, today’s announcement is a testament to Google’s ongoing commitment to Ireland as a key hub for its operations. This €150m data centre expansion brings the company’s total investment in its Irish data centres alone to €500m, and its capital expenditure to almost €1bn. There is no denying that this is a considerable vote of confidence in Ireland as a place to do business. Not only that, but given the importance of data centres in keeping web-based and cloud services running smoothly, this development is also an endorsement of our country’s technical expertise and infrastructure. The business sector in Ireland is an ecosystem that benefits from positive news like this, so I am absolutely delighted to welcome this significant investment.”

Pat Breen TD, Minister of State for Trade, Business and EU Digital Single Market said, “In addition to the very tangible effect that an investment such as this has on an area, the Copenhagen Economics report released today has shown that Google’s presence here has numerous knock-on benefits too. The report highlights that the productivity and competitiveness of local suppliers and businesses benefit from Google’s existence through spillover of the company’s managerial knowledge and operational practices.  Other companies who might look to invest in Ireland will acknowledge Google’s recognition of the high level of skills, suppliers and resources here, greatly increasing our attractiveness for additional foreign direct investment.”

Terence McGoff, Engineering Director at Google, added, “I’m really delighted to announce that we’ve started to break ground on the new addition to our facility here in South County Dublin. Our data centres are essential to our operations both in Ireland and across the larger EMEA region, allowing consumers and business to use our cloud-based tools and software far more efficiently and effectively. This investment shows our continued commitment to Ireland as a key driver for the whole EMEA region, and we’re proud to see that total capital investment by Google in Ireland has reached a total of €1bn since we first opened an office here in Dublin fifteen years ago.”

Denis Browne, Google’s EU Regional Data Centre Lead, commented, “Dublin is a key site in our family of European data centres, which provide the critical infrastructure to keep cloud-based services such as Gmail, Maps, and YouTube running efficiently across Europe, Middle East and Africa.  Our data centres are designed to be highly energy-efficient, for example our data centre here in Dublin uses advanced air-cooling technologies taking advantage of our country’s “temperate climate” to regulate the temperature of the servers.  Efforts such as this are vital to our ongoing environmental initiatives such as our recent global achievement of purchasing enough renewable energy to match all the electricity we consumed last year, as well as maintaining our long-established carbon neutral status, something we’re very proud to have held continuously since 2007. Our carbon neutrality strategy is focused on 3 areas:

(1) running highly energy efficient data centres – we’re leaders in the industry in this regard
(2) buying renewables that match 100% of our energy consumption
(3) buying carbon offsets for our remaining footprint”

Peter Byrne, CEO, South Dublin Chamber, said, “The presence of these data centres has provided a breath of life to South Dublin County – as well as bringing vital direct employment to the area, they also support indirect employment via local spending on goods and services. In addition, Google has an excellent relationship with the local community and actively supports local community projects and NGOs, such as the Inspiring the Future initiative with the South Dublin County Partnership. We’re delighted with Google’s continued commitment to the area via the expansion of their data centre here.”