Re: Re: Developments in Cork

A bit off-topic, but this reminded me of another story which occurred recently in the Cork area.

Due to significant underground works going on in a certain urban area, a number of buildings sustained structural damage. As a form of/in lieu of compensation, the authority involved purchased one of these properties – a tiny, one story shack of perhaps 20 sq. m in size. The figure I heard quoted was 250K (primarily, I assume, because of the nature of the purchase, and also because of a favourable location).

Unfortunately, someone overlooked a tiny strip of pavement surrounding the building, less than a metre in width, which wasn’t included in the sale. The owner is supposedly now demanding 500K for this narrow strip.

This has me raging. Firstly, that someone messed up in not buying all the land necessary. Secondly, that this person – even with the law on their side – is trying to fleece a cash-strapped authority for a large sum of money that could otherwise do a lot of good for that community.

Having said that, given the outstanding land is just a section of pavement which isn’t large enough for any kind of development, do the council even need to buy it?