Local Authority: Monaghan County Council
Issue: Property management
A private developer built an apartment building on land registered in the name of Castleblayney Town Council in the mid-1990s, even though there is no record that the council had sold this land to the developer, according to the Local Government Auditor.
A council official said that the developer may have encroached on the council's land.
The issue appears to have gone entirely unnoticed for many years until it came to the attention of the Local Government Auditor as part of the 2014 audit of Monaghan County Council, which took over Castleblayney Town Council in 2014, following the dissolution of town councils.
The audit stated that "apartments were constructed by a developer in 1994/1995 on land which was, and continues to be registered in a former town council’s name."
"There is no record of the sale of this land in the books of the Council," it said, adding that the matter needed to be investigated.
The council’s chief executive replied that the council’s corporate assets unit would investigate.
Monaghan County Council recently told RTÉ Investigates that "it was highly unlikely that a private development would be constructed on lands in the ownership of the Town Council without its consent or transfer."
But this appears to contradict a view expressed by one of its officials.
RTÉ Investigates sought all records relating to this investigation through a freedom of information request to Monaghan County Council.
In an email exchange between council officials in May 2017, an official stated that there are two apartment blocks on the land in question, with one block in the name of a development company and the other in the council’s name.
The official said that another council colleague, who went to view the apartments, said that it "looks like encroachment’ – in other words, suggesting that the developer was not authorised to build the apartment building on the council land.
Separately, in a letter from a council official dated 2 June 2017 to the coordinator of the Castleblayney-Carrickmacross municipal district, the official said that "This matter had been forwarded to the [Municipal District] previously for investigation and resolution, but due to change in staff, this does not appear to have been completed."
The letter also stated that the Municipal District "is asked to arrange that the owner of the apartments is contacted and this plot is transferred from the council’s ownership."
When asked recently if the council had contacted the apartment owner, the council would not answer.
It did, however, state that "Carrickmacross/Castleblayney Municipal District Council has referred the matter to its solicitors to seek clarification of the ownership of the lands in question at the time."
