IDA’s €36m investment site used for grazing sheep

A site bought by the IDA for €36m at the height of the boom is to be leased out to graze sheep at a rent of less than €17,000 a year.

At that rate, it would take the IDA over 2,000 years to recoup its investment.

The 240-acre plot on the edge of Athenry was bought from Teagasc in 2007 for the planned development of a campus for biopharmaceutical plants and silicon chip manufacturers.