‘Waste of money’ land deal to proceed in Co. Cork

Cork County Council is to proceed with a land sale despite criticism from some councillors the deal is a waste of taxpayers’ money.

In 1982, the local authority purchased land near Doneraile in north Cork which it initially earmarked for a refuse landfill and a Traveller halting site.

The halting site was built on a very small portion of the land, but the landfill never materialised.

Instead, the council decided to build a major refuse dump at Ballyguyroe, near Shanballymore, which was a forerunner to the currently mothballed €50m landfill at Bottlehill.

The council spent the equivalent of €250,000 on the 76-acre Doneraile site.

Yet, 33 years later, it decided to dispose of the land for just €171,000.

Cllr Des O’Grady (SF) said the land must, at least, have multiplied in value since it was purchased and questioned why the council didn’t sell it off during the boom if it was surplus to requirements.

Although the land in question wouldn’t be considered top notch for agricultural purposes, Cllr O’Grady said the sale proposed worked out at 2,250 per acre which he maintained was extraordinarily small.

“This was a waste of public money,” he declared.

Cllr Kieran McCarthy said the council shouldn’t sell off the land at this juncture as the economy was slowly recovering. He said it was better to wait until the land gained in value.

Cllr Melissa Mullane pointed out that additional money must have been spent planning the Doneraile project and that had obviously been wasted on the likes of planning and consultants’ reports.

She said the council should be very careful about how it spent money. his was one of a number of examples of projects over the years which didn’t get off the ground.

Council chief executive Tim Lucey defended the sale. He said that the price “was the value that the market deemed right at the time”.

Cllr John Paul O’Shea (Ind) said the land was in a remote area and proposed the council move to sell it off for €171,000.

While some councillors disagreed with him, the majority voted in favour of sanctioning the sale.

The county mayor Cllr Alan Coleman said the land probably was not worth that much because it could not be classified as being good for agriculture.

Meanwhile, local authorities notify counciilors on a regular basis of properties which they intend to dispose of, either by public sale or private treaty.

Councillors have a responsibility to ratify the proposed deals.

Occasionally, the proposed sites for sale range from just a parcel of land, at less than a half acre which may benefit a householder, to more substantial pieces of property.

In previous years, the executive decision in relation to land sales had been approved by councillors without little or no discussion. However, since the 2014 election and a significant change of councillors, some executive decisions are being more closely monitored, and challenged.

Sinn Fein, having up to 10 councillors, along with some Independents have asked more probing questions about land transactions.