EPA investigating noise complaints at Dublin data centre

Updated / Thursday, The operator said it has applied mitigation measures and is continuing to investigate the issue Samantha Libreri a new data centre in Clondalkin in west Dublin. The operator says it has applied mitigation measures and is continuing to investigate the issue. Concerns in west Dublin first arose in late July, when some residents living close to the new Echelon DUB10 data centre in the Clondalkin Industrial Estate began hearing an unusual noise. Residents had described a persistent humming, primarily at night but also during the day. After receiving a number of complaints about the noise, the EPA launched an investigation which it says is still under way. Aaron Jeffrey, who lives more than 2km away from the data centre said that when the issue began in late summer he thought it was his imagination, or a noise that was occurring within his home, but he soon realised he was not alone. "I just remember hearing this buzzing noise. To be honest, at the start I thought I was going a bit crazy. "Then after a couple nights of not being able to sleep, making sure it wasn't the refrigerator pump or a neighbour playing something, I finally started recording it, and then I figured out from there that it probably was a local data centre." Aaron Jeffrey lives more than 2km from the data centre "It's this kind of low-frequency hum that just seems to intercept through any material. It doesn't matter if you close the doors, the blinds, the shutters, the vents on top of the windows. It's just constant as well," Aaron said. "We made a post in Clondalkin Living on Facebook. A number of people commented on it, saying that they thought they were going insane because like their husbands couldn't hear it, obviously because of the frequency and then we realised we weren't the only people affected by this." "I've had to buy earplugs just to try and get a good night's sleep, move the bed to the furthest corner of the room and see if there's stuff we could get to try to block out sound. But unfortunately, because of the nature of the noise, there's not really much you can do about it," he added. Aaron also said he has bags "under his eyes" and the lack of sleep he has experienced has had an impact both "mentally and and physically" on his well-being. "I understand, there's going to be disruptions in life.