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What cost the
greater good?
Leanna
Byrne
Compulsory purchase
orders strike fear into the
hearts of homeowners,
but officials argue they
offer a fair price for the
benefit of many
water supply and sewage facilities are
could also be directly affected.
a feature of all developed countries. The
“When you look at the lovely map
and I’m not a great map reader - you see compulsory acquisition of land in the
very clearly that, of all the houses, it goes public interest is supported by the Constitution
right through [this] house andit takes out
and the legislative provisions
the next-door neighbour as well,” said involved have been consistently upheld
by the courts.
her son, Mike Geraghty.
CPOs allow public bodies to take hold
Mike Geraghty is a member of the N6
Action Group, a protest group against the of properties without the consent of an
owner. Large-scale,billion-euro projects,
proposed road.
“There’s a very positive gloss being such as the M50 motorway, the Dublin
put on this whole thing. It’s being made Area Rapid Transit (Dart) and - more
like, ‘Ah, tough on the 41 householders recently - the Luas and Luas Cross City,
that willbe losing their houses, but this is have all been constructed using the CPO
for the greater good’.That’s pure rubbish process. The basic principle within this
because one house is one house too many process is that all landowners must get
to be lost in this day and age, ” he said. fair compensation.
Tofacilitate the build of Ireland’s most
But local authorities and state bodies,
congested road, the M50, three major
familiar with the community versus infrastructure
CPOs were carried out by the two former
dilemma, disagree. The 20year
local authorities, Dublin County Council
traffic problem in Galway needs to
and the Corporation of Dun Iaoghaire.
be solved, and they believe the solution
Constructed in three sections, the
from Doughiska on the eastern side of is a city bypass.
first - a single-carriageway connection
the city to a lithe further west of Bama.
between the N7 and N81 - was built in
Geraghty’s house is one of 41 that is
1988.The next sections - from the airport
The
CPO
system
of
compulsory
purchase
at risk of being forcibly acquired and
in north Dublin to Ballinteer in south
demolished by way of a compulsory pur- procedures for public works such as road to page 6
schemes, local authority housing and
Geraghty built
her house in Newcastle,
Co Galway 30 years
ago with the intention
of seeing out her days
there. Three weeks ago
she received a letter from
Galway County Council
which threatens to see her home razed
to the ground and replaced by freshly
laid tarmac.
“We’rewritingto inform youasaproperty
owner that the emerging preferred
route corridor has been developed as part
of the N6 Galway Transport Project and
your property is within the 150 mile wide
corridor. Please find a map enclosed,”
said the letter.
The house, built in 1985 by Geraghty
and her late husband, sits directly on one
of the preferred routes for the proposed
€500millionN6 Galway bypass, running
Florence
Constitutional support
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44
The compulsory
acquisition
of land in the
public interest is
supported by the
Constitution
Mike Geraghty and his mother Florence whose house will be knocked in the proposed plan to bypass Galway City
Andrew Downes
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What cost the
greater good?
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and the disturbance
caused
and the Luas Cross City. The go to through the lands - it’s all
to the operation of a farm,”
about
getting
the
best
possible
RPA estimates that these CPOs
you can get,” said Corcoran from the NRA.
were served to lands that covered compensation
A 2015 Society of Chartered
said
Sheehy.
“If
the route is
roughly 21.5 hectares, not
Surveyors Ireland report
decided,
then
it’s
going
to
be
all of which included residential
found that agricultural land
very
hard
to
change
it.”
properties, but also a mix
The aim of CPO compensationprices and rents increased in
of semi-state
and privately
some - though not all - regions
is to put the landowner
owned lands, residential and
in Ireland. For example,
in
the
same
financial
position
commercial buildings.
outside Dublin the selling
prior to receiving the order.
The total Luas build cost
price of agricultural land with
€775 million and it is estimated Nothing gained, nothing lost.
a residence increased by 7 per
that the Luas Cross will cost
Compensation for a property cent to €11,947 per acre and
€367 million.
issued with a CPO is generally the price ofland sold without
An historical
example
calculated at the market
a residence increased by 5 per
would be the Dart. Commissioned
value on the date of the notice cent to €10,942 per acre. The
on July 1,1984 at a total
to treat In other words,
selling price of agricultural
capital cost of £113 million, the whatever your house is worth
land in the Munster region
Dart bought up land through
when you get the CPO, that’s
experienced
relatively tittle
CPO processes for the original the estimated compensation
change in 2014 with land and
build and further extensions.
you will receive.
without a residence increasing
The value of the land simply
by 2 per cent and falling by 1
depends on where the land
per cent respectively.
is situated. “It could be in the
That said, not all projects are
Ian Sheehy of Keating Connollymiddle of the country with no agri-land based, such as the
been completed linking Ashbourne
Galway bypass which is expected
Sellors solicitor firm in towns or cities nearby Maybe
and north of Kells to Limerick and Dublin has firsthandyou had planning permission
to buy up large chunks
on it for a house or two houses.
Dublin and on the Nil, which
of city land.
knowledge of dealing
will ultimately provide a motorway
Landowners are also compensated
with CPO processes for his If you were close to a town
or if the land was zoned for
link between Dundalk
for any damage to
clients.
development, then that all affects
and Rosslare.
“ [CPOs] give those bodies
their retained land or any
the value of the land,”
“Compulsory
purchase
the right to decide that there
disturbance
to farming operations.
said Sheehy.
powers are required for road is a project necessary for the
He
added:
“Did
the
council
projects because, by theirvery
public,” said Sheehy.
Those that play ball with
ever change land from
nature, these schemes entail
According to the solicitor,
the authorities are in line for
development
to
agricultural
purchasing land from many
the process can be straightforward.
a “goodwill payment” too. The
knowing that there was a CPO
owners, some of whom are
There is an initial public
payment, which was the result
coming
down
the
line?
I
don’t
agreeable to the location of consultation
on the various
of an agreement between
know if that’s happened frequently,
a particular
scheme, some
proposed routes at which residents
the Irish Farmers Association
but it has happened
of whom are resistant to the
can air their grievances.
(IFA) and the Department of
in the past.”
scheme, and all of whom
These concerns are considered
the Environment
in 2001, is
might demand a ransomprice
by the local authorities to help
due to landowners who cooperate
for their land in the absence of them choose a preferred route.
with the process.
a CPO,” said Corcoran.
The plans are then approved
“If the landowner tries to
The NRA is not the only authority
by An Bord Pleanala before
frustrate the progress on the
“Under CPOs, landowners are scheme, we can, under paragraph
that uses CPOs. The CPOs are served.
for the value of
Rail Procurement
Agency
“At the stage where you get compensated
25 of the CPO scheme,
(RPA) has issued a total of the actual ‘notice to treat’
the land taken, the damage
say that unless they desist
where you know they’re going caused to the retained land
120 CPOs between the Luas
from that behaviour they will
from page 1
Dublin - were built from 1996
onwards. In each CPO a large
amount ofland was boughtup,
of which the sum and number
of acres are now unknown.
The most recent motorway
extension cost €132 million
without the need for new
CPOs. The motorway, which
now spans 49 kilometres is
expected to reach 62 kilometres
by 2030.
“You can see the series of
major projects that have been
carried out over the past ten
to 12 years which have linked
the major cities of Waterford,
Cork, Limerick and Galway
to Dublin,” said the National
Roads Authority head of land
and property acquisition, Peter
Corcoran.
Major schemes have also
The CPO process
CPO
compensation
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have forgone that payment,” cates for “regenerative urban
said Corcoran.
development”.
The going rate for a goodwill “There are people here in
payment at the time of Galway that believe there are
the agreement was €5,000 per alternatives to just building a
acre, but is now at €3,000 per road, ” said Hambleton, who is
in favour of modernising the
acre.
And not all CPOs are carriedinefficient Galway bus routes,
out smoothly. Where introducing a light rail around
compensation is in dispute, the city, and widening or improving
the matter goes to arbitration.
existing roads within
The decision of the arbitratoris the city.
final and can only be appealed
In the meantime, the N6
on a point of law, according to Galway bypass saga rumbles
on. The latest twist is the
solicitor Sheehy.
“The vast majority of people gathering of more than 1,000
cooperate and realise that public submissions on the
this is being provided for the possible routes.
Allthe while, 41 home owners
greater good and they want to
worry about their future
get a maximum compensation
and
fears grow among supporters
that they can. But you do have
that the question may
a small few that act outside of
no
longer
be when and what
what should be done,” said
route the bypass will take, but
Corcoran.
Derrick Hambleton, chair if it will be built at all.
of An Taisce Galway, is part
of a Future Cities alliance. The
group is against the proposed
N6 Galway bypass and advo¬
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