Taxpayer faces €4m legal bill over port dispute

THE taxpayer could be facing a e4 million legal bill because of a standoff between two state bodies in Cork over land.

The rift between Cork City Council and the Port of Cork over crucial sites in the city’s docklands region has been branded a “complete farce and a disgraceful waste of public money”.

Fine Gael city councillor, Dara Murphy called last night on the Taoiseach or a senior Government minister to intervene to prevent further waste of public money.

“There is a complete political vacuum around this situation,” Cllr Murphy said.

The council has issued compulsory purchase orders (CPO) on several sites, most of which are owned by the Port of Cork, to allow it build two bridges deemed essential to open up the city’s docklands region for development.

The council wants toprovide access to the docklands from the Lower Glanmire Road by building the iconic Eastern Gateway Bridge across the River Lee, and a second bridge at Water Street.

The Port of Cork has already rejected a e20m offer from the city to relocate its operations downstream.

But it is also resisting the CPOs until after the relocation has been finalised — estimated by port officials to cost over e58m.

The CPO standoff emerged in January when An Bord Pleanála opened an oral hearing into the move. It is set to reconvene early next month.

In the meantime, legal costs on both sides associated with the oral hearing process are being clocked up and it is estimated the final cost could top e4m.

Cllr Murphy, who is a member of the city council’s Docklands Steering Committee, said it is ridiculous that a State-owned port company and a local authority — two State bodies — could find themselves bogged down in an expensive oral hearing process.

“Because of this vacuum, you have the Port of Cork, whose sole shareholder in the transport minister, and the city council, clocking up millions in legal fees,” he said.

“This could be sorted out by agreement if the minister got involved and made a call on how much should be paid for the CPOs.

“Ministers are at the top of the chain and are there to make decisions.

“What this situation shows is a complete lack of political leadership, a complete waste of public money, and a complete lack of interest in what’s happening in Cork.”

The Cork Docklands Forum, set up by former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, and chaired by former UCC president Professor Gerry Wrixon, has already recommended that the Exchequer should fund hundreds of millions of euro worth of infrastructure to kickstart the development of Cork docklands.

However, it has said the project’s “potential, especially in the light of an economic downturn, out-weighs the short-term costs of providing such infrastructure”.