Mayo council charging rent for land it has no proof of ownership for

The Sandy Banks caravan and camping park on Achill Island, Mayo.

A local authority is charging rent for land over which it has no proof of ownership, according to an investigation by the Irish Examiner. 

Mayo County Council leases land to a caravan park operator on Achill Island even though local people have legal title to the land.

The area is part of a commonage that is legally owned by over 500 landowners and farmers. It is known as the Sandy Banks and covers 400 acres at the village of Keel on the island. 

Mayo County Council claims ownership of the Sandy Banks through a compulsory purchase order (CPO) effected in 1970. As a result, the council rents out some of the land to the operators of a caravan park. 

Yet, according to documents seen by the Irish Examiner, the council has no legal title to the land.

The caravan park lease is up for renewal, and last February, Mayo County Council voted to defer renewing the lease until the deeds for the land were produced by the council executive. 

Nothing has been produced to the elected members since. 

Despite that, a spokesperson for the council has repeatedly told the Irish Examiner that the council owns the land.

The park operators, Lisa and Michael Fitzsimons, have been told their lease will be renewed.

“We’ve had four brilliant years since we first won the lease,” Lisa Fitzsimons said. 

“We’ve made a life here, and we don’t want to get caught up in the middle of this.” 

A CPO was signed off in 1970, but no vesting order was enacted which would legally transfer ownership of the property to the council. As a result, the land is officially registered in the farmers’ names in the land registry, and they are legal owners. 

One reason this may not have been done is that, according to documents seen by the Irish Examiner, the local people were not informed that the CPO was going through.

Objections in 1970

Martin Calvey, who is 85, recalls attending a meeting in 1970 that was called to object to the CPO. 

“There was over 100 there and nearly all were objecting,” he said. “We appointed a committee to represent us but we heard nothing more after that.” 

A planning hearing called at the time to deal with a separate issue to the CPO was told that there were no objections to the Sandy Banks being purchased, according to a transcript. This was, according to Martin Calvey, totally inaccurate. 

In any event, the purchase was not completed after the minister for local government signed off on the order.

Despite the council claiming ownership of the lands, around 200 of the local farmers are in receipt of EU farm subsidies paid for using their land for grazing. 

The result is that, according to the Department of Agriculture, through which the subsidies are paid, the farmers own the land, but the council is charging the caravan park operators €20,000 annually for rent on the basis that the local authority is the owner.