IDA has 'washed their hands of West Cork' — Council asks for unused landbanks

Cork County councillor maintained the IDA is concentrating on metropolitan areas at the expense of rural ones

Fianna Fáil councillor Joe Carroll said the IDA had unused landbanks in Bantry and Skibbereen and he had been told by an IDA official that one of them in Skibbereen is being sold off, with negotiations on the matter ongoing. File picture: Denis Minihane

The IDA is being asked to give its unused landbanks to Cork County Council amid accusations it is no longer interested in seeking industries to fill them in job-starved rural areas of the region.

Standing orders were suspended at a meeting in County Hall to hear a debate on the issue which was requested by Fianna Fáil councillor Joe Carroll. He said the IDA had unused landbanks in Bantry and Skibbereen and he had been told by an IDA official that one of them in Skibbereen is being sold off, with negotiations on the matter ongoing.