Fallow lie fields in Athenry

FOR the next 10 years sheep will graze on land that was by now supposed to be the imminent home for a new Silicon Valley-style industrial campus.

The flock will live there on the back of annual rent of less than €17,000 a year. This is to get access to a 240-acre site which the IDA bought in Dec 2007 for €36m.

At the time, the agency believed it was in the mix to win a competition for a “very large scale investment” and it pressed on Teagasc, the semi-state body which owned the farm, to complete the deal quickly.