Intel gets permission for £1.6bn extension of its Leixlip plant

A decision by An Bord Pleanala to grant planning permission to Intel for a £1.6 billion (€2 billion) extension of its Leixlip plant cements the multinational's relationship with the Republic for the next 20 years, a spokesman said yesterday.

The board's decision, announced yesterday, followed an appeal by Mr John Colgan, of Toll House, Leixlip, Co Kildare, against a decision on May 9th last by Kildare County Council, in favour of the project.

Permission was granted subject to 10 conditions which are unlikely to affect the project's progress.

Mr Colgan had concerns about the scale of the development and its effect on nearby Leixlip which, he said, was already enduring the effects of a high rate of through traffic going to and from the plant. He did not want to comment on the decision yesterday as he had not yet received the details. An Taisce had also expressed concerns in relation to about transport to and from the plant, and housing infrastructure.

The 40,000 sq m two-storey-over-basement wafer fabrication production expansion at Intel will lead to the creation of 1,000 jobs and is scheduled for completion by the end of 2001.

It will involve £400 million in construction costs, most of which will go to Irish suppliers and contractors. Several firms which had worked on earlier phases of the Intel plant had proved they could work to the highest of international standards in construction work which was easily the most complex and challenging in Ireland, he said.

The Intel spokesman said the project was predicated on a demanding schedule and the appeal to An Bord Pleanala had put a "kink" in that schedule. "We are very relieved to have this planning permission," he said.

Many of the 1,000 workers who will be needed at the extended Intel plant will be graduates in physics, chemistry and engineering, as well as technicians in those fields.

The plant already has 3,200 Intel employees and 1,200 people on long-term contracts.

"We are looking forward to contributing further to the positive development of north Kildare and Leixlip," the spokesman said. The company was very pleased that An Bord Pleanala had dealt with the appeal within the four-month schedule to which it had committed itself, he said.

The company would take great care to minimise the disruption caused during construction and from the additional traffic through Leixlip.

As was the case with earlier construction phases at the plant, the spoil from the work would be kept on the site, the spokesman said.

Mr Colgan said he had objected to the extension as he was concerned about the added traffic through Leixlip. He believed the extension should be deferred pending the construction of a link from the Intel and Hewlett-Packard plants, to the nearby motorway, thereby taking traffic away from Leixlip. Construction of this link is due to begin next month and is being financed by the two US multinationals.

Mr Colgan was also concerned about gas emissions from the plant and the licensed release of effluent into the Liffey. The Intel spokesman said the plant had "an extremely high standard of environmental performance" and said it strongly refuted the points made by Mr Colgan on emissions.

Intel made profits of $3.5 billion (€4 billion) in the three months to June and had revenues of $8.3 billion. The company distributes 4 per cent of its net income to its employees each year in the form of a bonus.