Major lease approval in Limerick city despite dispute over structure of DACs

ELECTED members of Limerick City and County Council have given the green light for a 999-year lease on lands at Opera Square in Limerick city.

The decision to sell lands at the Opera Square site to the Office of Public Works came at a council meeting last Monday despite councillors raising concerns around the current structure of Limerick Twenty Thirty (LTT).

The decision will allow works to commence on a new 14-storey office building which will be constructed on behalf of the Revenue Commissioners. The OPW will pay €1.1m for this, as well as the development costs incurred to date by Limerick Council. It will then be the OPW which builds the landmark building that will be home to almost 1,000 workers.

LTT is a designated activity company (DAC) which operates at arm’s length from council, and is charged with developing key sites in the city centre including the Opera Square at Rutland Street.

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Up until the last local election, a number of councillors had sat on the board of the company in order to provide oversight. But a row broke out last summer when Mayor John Moran said in line with “best corporate practice”, council members would have to apply to sit on the board, and he would decide the positions.

Cllr Kieran O'Hanlon said that he was happy to propose this disposal of land but also raised issue with the DAC saying that “basically the mayor has told us all to send in our CVs. The question is, has any progress been made on this because it's 12 months on?”

Cllr Dan McSweeney seconded the disposal, saying that it was a “transformational” project. He also highlighted the code of corporate governance for local authorities. “Elected members should be sitting on subsidiary companies of Limerick City and County Council, Discover Limerick DAC, Innovate DAC, Askeaton Pool & Leisure, and Limerick Twenty Thirty.

“This governance document has been sitting on a desk somewhere for twelve months... We are not having code of good governance in those DACs because it is failing to comply with the code of corporate governance for local authorities.”

Cllr McSweeney continued: “There has been nominations made by this chamber for people to sit on that DAC and we got into the legal argument previously on who should appoint those onto the DACs. We have legal opinions saying it's the mayor. It now rests with the mayor.

“There is clear code of governance, and it's now time for the mayor to step up to the plate or if he's not we need to stop funding these DACs.

“We need to stop carrying out any work with these DACs because it does not comply with the code of corporate governance.”

Cllr Michael Collins said he was happy to support the 999-year lease because it's “the right thing to do.”

Cllr Joe Leddin also supported the disposal for the lease, saying that it's a hugely important project. “It's great to have the OPW now with the actual funds to pay upfront...It is extremely important in terms of the whole viability of project Opera to have the OPW now in there as an anchor in that and with the funding in place for the building.”

Cllr Leddin added that the governance of DACs is a mess. “It has been handled really poorly I think from the outset because we do have a role to play. “It's the local authority that's going out and drawing down loans from various different European banks or Irish banks... At the end of the day, we, as elected members of the council, I think, should have a role going forward on the DACs.”

He also said a huge mistake was made by not including more residential units and apartments.”

Cllr Bridie Collins said it was made very clear to her that she would be in breach of regulation if she stayed on the DAC. “I'm here now proposing that we have a special meeting to appoint those positions to the DACs within the next couple of weeks or at the very latest, we have it as an agenda item at the September meeting because this is ridiculous.

“We were all very well invested in those DACs...

“It's insulting that we have not been allowed to keep those positions.”

Director of Planning, Environment & Place-Making for Limerick City and County Council, Vincent Murray stated: “In relation to the complexity of the disposal today, and the previous disposal, there was a proposal at one stage that the council would draw down significant funding from the European Investment Bank... Post Covid and the recovery of the economy, the OPW have come into funds.”