UL chancellor defends college over Dunnes site valuation

The University of Limerick paid €8m for the former Dunnes site on Sarsfield Bridge, just two years after it had been valued at €3m

Dunnes Stores, Sarsfield Street, in Limerick was brought by the University of Limerick for €8.3m. Picture: Brendan Gleeson

The chancellor of the University of Limerick (UL) has said it is not “fair” to compare a previous valuation of the Dunnes Stores site in the city of €3m with the €8.3m it was eventually purchased for.

Mary Harney told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the €3m valuation from 2017 was a “desktop valuation... for internal purposes only” aimed at placing the Dunnes site, at Sarsfield’s Bridge in the city, on the derelict sites register with the purpose of having it acquired by the local authority by compulsory purchase order.