Farmer appeals Intel planning permission for €3.5bn Kildare facility

A farmer has appealed Kildare County Council's decision to grant planning permission for Intel's proposed new $4 billion (€3.53 billion) facility at its Leixlip plant to An Bord Pleanála.

The appeals board confirmed on Monday that Kildare farmer Thomas Reid had lodged the only third-party appeal concerning the new application by the US microchip giant for an extended and revised manufacturing fabrication facility, known as a "fab".

Mr Reid has long been a thorn in the side of the US multinational in the planning arena, and this is the seventh Intel application he has brought before An Bord Pleanála since 2012.

Intel has itself lodged a first-party appeal against one condition attached to the planning permission granted by the county council last month.

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Decisions on the appeals are expected in October.

The 10-year permission to Intel will provide a windfall of €9.7 million in development contributions for the council – if work on the project proceeds.

Go-ahead

The council last month 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 the general amenity of the area and would be in proper accordance with the planning and sustainable development of the area.

However, Mr Reid of Hedsor House, Blakestown, Carton, Maynooth, has now appealed the decision and followed up on his initial two-page handwritten objection lodged with the council against the new application.

In his objection, Mr Reid claimed that the planning application is contrary to the proper planning and development of the area.

Mr Reid unsuccessfully opposed the $4 billion 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.