Price of stadium site for school may be twice its value

The €23m the Department of Education plans to pay for the Harold’s Cross greyhound stadium in Dublin could be well over twice its market value, a TD and auctioneer claims.

As reported by the Irish Examiner yesterday, the sale of the six-acre Dublin 6 site by the Irish Greyhound Board (IGB) hinges on the department’s ability to secure a change in zoning to allow it build schools there.

But Fianna Fáil TD, Marc MacSharry, offered his professional assessment that even if the zoning change is secured from Dublin City Council, it would not be worth any more than €9m. With its current zoning for amenity use, he said it is probably just half of that, around €750,000 an acre.