ESB declines transfer of Limerick site to land agency for development of up to 410 homes

ESB and Department of the Environment have 'not consented' to the transfer of the 5.3 hectare site on Rosbrien Road

Transfer of sites at Marina Generating Station in Cork, a site adjacent to an ESB substation in on the Grand Canal at Inchicore in Dublin, and land at Sean Mulvoy Road in Galway have not yet been agreed by the ESB. File picture: PA

The ESB has declined to allow the transfer of a Limerick site with the potential for the provision of 410 homes to the Land Development Agency (LDA), with no further sites set to transfer between the bodies in the foreseeable future.

The Department of the Environment recently informed the Government that both the ESB and itself “have not consented” to the transfer of the 5.3 hectare site on Rosbrien Road, with the withdrawal of the site likely to reignite accusations the LDA lacks sufficient powers to compel State bodies to comply with its housing remit.

Last year, the LDA, the State’s body with responsibility for unlocking the housing potential of public housing, estimated the cost of developing the Rosbrien site at a maximum of €121m, with the potential to yield between 290 and 410 homes.

That estimate was included in the LDA’s first report on relevant public land, a publication which the agency is now bound to publish every two years.

The site was labelled as Class 3 in the report, classifying its development as being the most difficult on the scale, and not achievable in any specific timeframe.

However, in a memo dating from early March, the Department of the Environment said it may now “be timely to remove all reference” to both Rosbrien Road and three other ESB sites in any future reports “until such time as any agreement with the ESB has been finalised”.

The other three sites are the Marina Generating Station in Cork, a site adjacent to an ESB substation in on the Grand Canal at Inchicore in Dublin, and land at Sean Mulvoy Road in Galway, otherwise known as the Sandy Quarter.

Two of those sites, Marina and Sean Mulvoy, were previously designated Class 2 by the LDA, meaning they could be transformed into housing in the medium-to-long term, a process likely to take longer than 10 years.

Last April, the LDA launched a plan to “transform” the land at Sandy Quarter with a view to building 750 homes, and noted at the time the ESB would be “required to relocate prior to development commencing”.

In its memo, the Department of the Environment stated “no commitments were ever given to transfer, only to explore possible transfers”. 

It added “it would not be prudent to anticipate any transfer” from the aforementioned four sites, adding “the department cannot compel the ESB to sell any of its sites to the LDA”.

A spokesperson for the LDA said the agency and the ESB “have a positive working relationship and are engaging collaboratively on a number of sites”.

“The LDA currently has no powers to compel. The issue of compellability is a matter for Government, including at Wilton in Cork,” they said.

An ESB spokesperson said the body “is in ongoing discussions with the LDA and all such discussions are commercially sensitive”.