A date has been set for an oral hearing into Apple's planned €850 million Irish data centre (AAPL)

apple data centre

Apple

An oral hearing for Apple's €850 million (£674 million) Irish data centre will be held on Tuesday 24 May in Galway City, according to local newspaper Galway Independent.

Irish planning body An Bord Pleanála last month confirmed a hearing would take place after it received objections from a number of parties.

Apple filed a planning application for the data centre last April and was hoping to start building the facility on a 500-acre site before the end of last year.

Apple wants to build the data centre in Athenry, Galway, to store European user data and to help power online services including the iTunes Store, the App Store, iMessage, Maps, and Siri for customers across Europe.

These oral hearings aren't unusual for major infrastructure projects in Ireland but Apple will need to satisfy a panel of planners at the hearing if it is to get the green light on the data centre.

Most people in the area want the data centre to be built, local sources have told Business Insider. However, a small number of people and organisations have taken issue with the impact the data centre will have on the local wildlife (including bats and badgers), traffic, and drainage.

Others have expressed concerns over how much power the data centre will require.

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SEE ALSO: Apple's Irish data centre is facing further delays amid environmental and power consumption concerns