Council secures permission to buy entire ghost estate in Limerick

Powers under the Derelict Sites Act were only used where all reasonable alternatives had been exhausted

While they accepted the estate was untidy and unfinished all the objectors, which included many families with young children, said they fully intended to complete the development in order to provide for their housing needs. File picture: Denis Minihane

Limerick City and County Council has secured permission for the compulsory acquisition of an entire ghost estate on the outskirts of Rathkeale, Co Limerick, despite strong opposition from Traveller families who own individual sites.

An Bord Pleanála has approved the application by the local authority to use compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) to take control of 33 individual sites at various stages of construction on an unfinished housing development at Ballywilliam Close in Rathkeale under the Derelict Sites Act.