€1m spent on defunct housing project

Department and council planned project on land they did not own

It has emerged that nearly €1m of taxpayers’ money was wasted by the Department of the Environment and Cork County Council in planning a now defunct 100-house and village development on land neither of them ever owned.

The latest twist in the saga of the planned village at Dararra, near Clonakilty, emerged yesterday after a councillor sought a report on exactly what went wrong with the plan.