Facebook extension due to be complete by end of year

Two more buildings at data centre in Clonee

Facebook expects to move into its two new buildings at its Clonee data centre by the end of this year, members of Dunshaughlin Municipal Area council heard last week.

Aoife Flynn, Facebook’s community development manager, and site manager, Mark Hunter, updated councillors on progress at the Clonee site and the company’s community involvement projects.

This is the third phase of the construction project, and broke ground in March 2019, Mr Hunter explained. There is an average of 1,500 construction workers on site during peak construction, and there have been five million accident free hours on buildings five and six, which Mr Hunter said was quite impressive.

They had an 11-week shutdown due to Covid-19, but had the fastest ramp-up after re-opening of any of the Facebook sites, he said.

He added that the project had stimulated a construction sector figure of €721 million in sales activities, and €180 million in GDP. The data centres are currently supporting more than 300 jobs, he continued.

The centre is supported by 100 per cent renewable energy, with globally recognised green building certification.

In the last three years, Facebook has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 94 per cent, exceeding its target of 75 per cent set in 2017. New solar and wind projects will continue to be contracted to ensure 100 per cent renewable energy. Mr Hunter said the aim is net zero emissions by 2030, not only in its own operations but in areas such as business travel and employee commuting.

Facebook’s Data Centre in Clonee has been part of the Meath community since 2016 when they first broke ground on the data centre. They announced an expansion in 2019 and construction is currently underway on two new buildings.

Aoife Flynn outlined how Facebook has invested in County Meath and its residents by supporting STEM education, offering annual grants, volunteering locally, developing community partnerships.

These are following on Facebook’s ethos of "giving people the power to build community and bringing the world closer together," she said.

Initiatives include the annual Community Action Grants which have supported 40 projects in the past three years; support of the Meath Library service to create a Laptop for Loan programme for secondary schools students and community groups, sponsorship of St Peter’s College Dunboyne 'Team Xenon' in F1 in Schools 2021, and supporting 'Coolest Projects', an international technology showcase for kids. In 2020 Facebook provided in excess of €1.2m in Covid relief funding to support secondary school students with 900 laptops, 325 small local business with grants, and to charities opersting in the county.