Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 April 2014
419. Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his policy in relation to local authorities gifting public assets to private companies, with the stated intention of achieving financial viability for a project the private company is working on (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17608/14]
View answer420. Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the oversight and-or mechanisms for investigations available for the actions of a local authority to be investigated, where the local authority has gifted public assets to a private company, with the stated intention of achieving financial viability for a project the private company is working on (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17609/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 419 and 420 together.
It is a matter for each individual local authority to decide on the utilisation of their assets, including their land bank. Section 211(1) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 , as amended, (the 2000 Act) provides that any land acquired for the purposes of or appropriated under the 2000 Act or any other Act or acquired otherwise, by a local authority, may be sold, leased or exchanged, subject to such conditions as it may consider necessary where it no longer requires the land for any of its functions, or in order to secure –
(a) the best use of that or other land, and any structures or works which have been, or are to be, constructed, erected, made or carried out on, in or under that or other land, or
(b) the construction, erection, making or carrying out of any structures or works appearing to it to be needed for the proper planning and sustainable development of its functional area.
Section 211(2) of the 2000 Act (subject to any regulations under section 211(3) of the Act) requires the consent of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, for any sale, lease or exchange under section 211(1) , where the price or rent, or what is obtained by the local authority on the exchange, is not the best reasonably obtainable or below market value.
In addition, section 66 of the Local Government Act 2001 ( the 2001 Act) enables a local authority to provide “assistance in money or in kind” (which includes land) as it considers necessary or desirable to promote the interests of the local community. A decision by the local authority to provide assistance under this provision is a reserved function.
Where a local authority proposes to dispose of land, section 183 of the 2001 Act requires that elected members are notified. Such notification must provide the elected members with particulars of –
(a) the land,
(b) the name of the person from whom such land was acquired, if this can be ascertained by reasonable inquiries,
(c) the person to whom the land is to be disposed of,
(d) the consideration proposed in respect of the disposal,
(e) any covenants, conditions or agreements to have effect in connection with the disposal;
Section 183 of the 2001 Act also provides that at the first meeting of the local authority held after the expiration of 10 days after the day on which such notices are sent or delivered, the local authority may resolve that –
(a) the disposal shall not be carried out, in which case it shall not be carried out, or
(b) it shall be carried out in accordance with terms specified in the resolution, in which case the disposal may be carried out in accordance with those terms but subject to the consent of the Minister where such consent is required under section 211(2) of the 2000 Act.
If the local authority does not pass a resolution in accordance with the provisions of section 183 of the 2001 Act, the disposal may also be carried out, but subject to the consent of the Minister where such consent is required under section 211(2) of the 2000 Act.
