Council left with €660,000 corner on road plan that never happened

A debt of more than €665,000 used to buy land in a County Galway town before the property market collapsed remains a noose around the neck of the local authority.

Galway County Council spent €665,124 for a building on a site measuring just one tenth of an acre in Loughrea, in 2008.  It purchased the property with the intention of making road improvements but it did so before it had Government approval and before a budget had been sanctioned.

Money was never forthcoming to complete the works, which were included in the Loughrea local area plan.  Eight years later, the local authority is still in debt to the tune of €665,124 for the corner site known as Fitzy’s Corner in the East Galway town.  There was a former shop building on the site, which was knocked once it was purchased by the Council.

But the plot, at the end of Barrack Street, remains idle and hasn’t been used for the purpose it was intended, which was to widen the road junction or to facilitate the installation of a roundabout.

It is understood the County Council is now looking to re-sell the land. Locals in the town estimate that at its current value, the land might only be worth around €30,000, a tiny fraction of the initial outlay.

Describing it as one of the most expensive pieces of land in Galway, Independent County Councillor Tim Broderick said the County Council spent an “inordinate” amount of taxpayers’ money on the site.

Cllr Broderick raised the issue at a meeting of Galway County Council after it was highlighted in an Audit Committee Report.

The report noted there was an “outstanding capital balance” of €665,124 for the site.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.