Invest NI to work for £50m data centre

Foyle SDLP MLA Colum Eastwood asked the Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster for her views on the proposal by way of an Assembly Question.

She replied: “As detailed in the One Plan itself, the opportunity and challenge is over a timeframe of 2-3 years with a funding requirement of around £50 million coming from the private sector.”

She said that Northern Ireland currently does not have a significant or large scale colocation Data Centre.

The Minister said a small number of companies offer server space, which tends to be relatively small and limited.

She said that all major websites of Northern Ireland orgnisations are hosted via larger data centres in Dublin or Great Britain.

The Investment Minister continued: “Invest NI will continue to work with stakeholders to develop the local proposition and strengthen the ICT sector opportunity and encourage private sector Data Centre providers to consider suitable locations across Northern Ireland.”