Over €1m ‘wasted’ on failed Cork eco village

Over €1m of taxpayers’ money has been “wasted on a white elephant housing project” in Co Cork which an expert said should never have been contemplated in the first place, it has been claimed.

Some years ago, the Department of Agriculture decided to give a section of land owned by the agriculture college on the outskirts of Clonakilty to Cork County Council.

Seven years ago, the local authority and the Department of Environment earmarked the land at Dararra for an “eco village” and drew up plans to develop 77 affordable houses, 15 social houses, and a number of serviced plots on the site.

None of the homes have been built and it has emerged that nobody is interested in living on the site, which is 3.5km from the town.

Cllr John O’Sullivan said yesterday the project should now be abandoned altogether before any further, unnecessary expense is incurred.

He was told by assistant county manager James Fogarty that the local authority had spent €110,000 on the project and the Department of Environment around another €900,000.

Cllr O’Sullivan said he could not understand why so much money was wasted on what he later termed “a white elephant”. He quoted from an expert on rural housing who had previously warned the council that the idea was wrong, as it was too far from the town and would, if it went ahead, “create a ghetto”.

“I feel quite strongly about this. We have to face up to it now andadmit we were wrong,” said Mr O’Sullivan, who was not a member of the council when the eco village plans were drawn up.

He said the land should be handed back to the agricultural college to establish a third-level campus.

Cllr Donal O’Rourke accused him of playing politics and added that the project could one day be viable.

Cllr Noel O’Donovan said the issue had to be “put to bed once and for all”.

Mr Fogarty, who was not assistant county manager when the plans were drawn up, said he was investigating all aspects of the project. He said he was not convinced the money was wasted, but admitted sometimes there could be “a penalty to pay” when planning such projects.

“I will be asking our planning and property departments to look at this. I don’t think we should rush into anything just yet, we need some calmness.”

He said that if the land was given back to the college for the development of a campus, that would necessitate a material contravention of the county development plan.

At the request of Cllr Danny Crowley, a decision on the land’s future use was deferred until next month, by which time it was hoped Mr Fogarty would have more information for councillors on the issue.