UL will need planning permission for student accommodation at controversial site

Planning board has ruled changing the use of 20 homes on Rhebogue Road in Limerick to use as student accommodation is not an 'exempted development' and requires planning permission to retain its use as homes for students

The University of Limerick overpaid for the Rhebogue site by €5m. Picture: Dan Linehan

The University of Limerick will need to secure planning permission to continue operating student accommodation at the controversial Rhebogue site it overpaid for by €5m.

An Coimisiún Pleanála has ruled changing the use of 20 homes at Drominbeg on Rhebogue Road in Limerick to use as student accommodation is not an “exempted development” and requires planning permission to retain its use as homes for students.

It comes after a previous meeting of the Public Accounts Committee on the topic heard “hoping you will be successful is not a contingency plan” in relation to seeking retention permission for a site which has already cost over €12m.

Last year, a report from the Comptroller and Auditor General detailed significant failings in the purchase of properties by UL, including the Rhebogue homes, that resulted in them overpaying by millions of euro.

In the case of Rhebogue, where 80 bed spaces in 20 houses were purchased for a total of €12.2m including Vat, UL overpaid by just over €5m, the report found.

C&AG Seamus McCarthy said: “A March 2024 independent valuation of the Rhebogue property indicates that the university probably paid significantly more than it should have.” 

A subsequent warning from Limerick City and County Council about it being a potentially unauthorised development was a direct result of this lack of due diligence, which the C&AG called an “undesirable and unnecessary outcome”.

Limerick City and County Council referred the case to An Coimisiún Pleanála as to whether or not the change of the use of the Rhebogue properties “is or is not development and is or is not exempted development”.

If it was deemed as “development”, it would require planning permission to be sought. If it was deemed “exempted development”, then it would not be required to keep operating them as student accommodation.

Earlier this month, the planning board decided it “is development and is not exempted development”.

At a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee late last year, Fianna Fáil TD Paul McAuliffe put it to UL representatives they must accept “if the planning process in its entirety is exhausted and if permission is not granted, there will be a significant threat to an asset of the university”.

Acting UL president Professor Shane Kilcommins said “plan B” would be to seek retention in order that it could continue to be used for student accommodation and he accepted "due dilligence" had not been done properly. 

In a statement on the An Coimisiún Pleanála decision, a UL spokesperson said: "The ruling will be carefully reviewed, and UL will take advice as to next steps. Any decision made will be based on careful appraisal.

"Student accommodation remains a critical priority for the university, and we are committed to addressing this need."