Councils run up €30m debt on unsuitable land

Two county councils ran up debts of nearly €30m buying land for social housing schemes — only for the sites to later be deemed "unsuitable for residential development".

Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council accumulated a €16,849,592 debt buying two sites for social housing, while Cork County Council had loans totalling €12,926,765 related to the purchase of 12 sites for the same purpose. It was later decided, however, that none of the 14 sites in question were suitable for residential development.

Reasons for the sites being deemed unsuitable for housing development included access problems, not having enough development potential at that point, and high costs.