'Laughable' five year delay to strike deal on Portlaoise housing land

A Laois Sinn Féin councillor has slammed as "laughable" a delayed plan to buy a field in Portlaoise for council housing.

The land called Doran's Field is planned as an extension of O'Moore Place housing estate, on the Mountmellick Road.

It is five years since Laois County Council announced plans by the Co-Operative Housing body to buy the field and build 34 new houses extending from the estate, but they still have not managed to strike a deal with the landowner.

At that time, the council spent €400,000 knocking six houses to improve access in O'Moore Place, with the next phase said to be the new houses. 

Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley was not laughing as she made her remarks at the May meeting of Laois County Council.

"Please tell me you are going down the road of a CPO (compulsory purchase order) or that the owner has agreed to sell. 

"It's laughable. You are over four years trying to get the owner to the table. You are making no progress. It's not acceptable," she said.

Aerial view of Doran's field in Portlaoise. Image: Google Maps

The council's Director for Housing Angela McEvoy responded to the criticism.

"The planning documents are being prepared by the developer. That's where that's at at the moment. I will brief the next council once they are in situ," she said.

In September 2019, a delay to buy the land was first noted by Laois County Council, when it said there was a title issue remaining to be resolved. It said that Co-Operative Housing had completed Heads of Agreement with the field owner. The houses were to be funded under the Urban Regeneration Programme.

The field is a target for repeated dumping and anti-social behaviour.