Apple is still waiting to hear whether it can build a secret €850 million data centre in an Irish forest

Apple is hoping to build an €850 million (£587 million) data centre in the middle of an Irish forest but a local planning body is delaying on giving the green light.

The proposed facility in County Galway, Ireland, would be shrouded by trees and power many of Apple's most important services across Europe, including the iTunes Store, the App Store, iMessage, Maps, and Siri.

Apple received planning permission from Galway County Council last September for the data centre in Derrydonnell Forest, near the small town of Athenry, but a number of appeals have since been made by local residents and others across Ireland.

The application is now being held up by An Bord Pleanála - an independent planning group that decides on appeals from planning decisions made by local authorities in Ireland.

An Bord Pleanála was due to pass a decision on the data centre this month but a report from Galway Bay FM this week states that the decision date has now been pushed back to May.

Business Insider understands that An Bord Pleanála asked Apple for more information about the proposed data centre, which would be largely concealed by the existing non-native trees and some native trees that Apple plans to reintroduce.

Data centres are vital pieces of infrastructure to technology companies because they power some of their most important products and services. As a result, technology companies tend to try to keep their data centres relatively discreet, leaving off branding and placing them in sparsely populated areas.

Business Insider has contacted Apple to see whether it sent the additional information that An Bord Pleanála asked for. We will update this story when we hear back.