Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been granted permission by An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP) to build a cable landing station (CLS) in Tullyneasky West, West Cork, Ireland, despite local opposition.

This follows Cork County Council’s initial approval of the CLS in April, which was appealed by a local couple who own a residential property and land adjoining the proposed CLS site.

The CLS will be the eastern terminal for Amazon’s Fastnet transatlantic cable connecting Cork, Ireland, to Maryland, USA. It will be the company’s first wholly-owned private transatlantic subsea cable system.

Amazon MCS Ireland Ltd filed the application to build the CLS at the site in Tullyneasky West, around five kilometers from Clonakilty, in December 2025. The company plans to demolish the two existing buildings at the site and then construct a CLS with an ESB substation, a switch room building, and external infrastructure such as fuel tanks and generators.

A local couple appealed the CLS approval amid safety concerns about having fuel tanks and electrical infrastructure in close proximity to a residential property, as well as worries about traffic, noise, and visual amenity.

They argued that “the proposed development would seriously affect the future potential of our adjoining lands, including the reasonable prospect of our children building homes on this land.”

Their appeal was rejected after an ACS inspector’s report found that fire and environmental risks had been mitigated appropriately, the CLS wouldn’t have a more significant visual impact than the current metal workshop buildings at the site, and would only result in a minor increase in traffic due to the CLS not being occupied full-time. The ACS inspector also noted the appellants’ property is approximately 125 meters away from the development site with a buffer of intervening fields, and is not the closest dwelling to the proposed site, which is around 82 meters away.

Having been granted approval for the CLS by the ACP, Amazon still requires a Maritime Area Consent (MAC) in order to occupy part of the seabed, which will not pass through the nearby Special Area of Conservation (SAC).

The subsea cable will make landfall at Owenahincha beach in County Cork, and then travel a further 5km inland to the CLS. Fastnet is set to be operational in 2028 and offer more than 320Tbps of capacity. It will lie approximately 1.5 meters below the seabed.

AWS has said it is also establishing Community Benefit Funds in Maryland and County Cork, committing to contribute in the region of €150,000, as reported by the Irish Independent, to West Cork STEM education and a local community fund.

It was officially announced in November 2025 that Amazon was planning the Fastnet cable connecting Ireland and the USA, following initial talk of the plans in January 2025. In the US, the cable will land in Maryland.

Currently, Exa’s Exa Express cable is the only cable that lands in County Cork, at the Cork Internet eXchange/CloudCIS on the Hollyhill Industrial Estate.

Amazon has also partnered with Vodafone to deliver a cable linking Ireland to the UK, called the Beaufort cable. The subsea cable is set to land at Kilmore Quay, Wexford, Ireland, at the former ESAT 1 landing station, and Bude, England, plus Port Eynon, Wales. It was originally due for service in 2024 but has been delayed.