FF senator left millions out of pocket as land plans rejected

independent.ie/national-news … 19643.html

By Michael Brennan

Monday June 14 2010

A FIANNA Fail senator spent millions of euro on a large field in Patrick Kavanagh country that is now worth only a fraction of its cost.

Senator Francis O’Brien (67) had hoped to make a windfall through land rezoning but he was undone by the determined opposition of the local community.

The senator bought the field on the outskirts of the tourist village of Inniskeen in Co Monaghan from a local farmer shortly before the county council was due to vote on a new development plan.

But locals realised the number of houses in the village could rocket from 121 to 1,000 if the fields owned by Mr O’Brien and other landowners were rezoned. And they began a campaign to halt the rezoning.

Succeeded

The Inniskeen Action Committee succeeded in gathering 800 signatures from the 1,200 people living in the wider parish and held packed public meetings in the old parochial hall in the centre of the village.

There were warnings from supportive councillors that the village could be “swamped” if the large-scale rezoning plan was passed – due to Inniskeen’s proximity to the M1 motorway. The community had previously organised themselves to gather funding for a centre to commemorate their most famous son – poet Patrick Kavanagh.

The 17-acre field on the outskirts of Inniskeen village was owned by a farmer before being bought by Mr O’Brien in 2006. Several Fianna Fail members of the council voted in favour of rezoning the land, while Mr O’Brien’s son, Cllr John O’Brien, declared his interest and abstained.

But Fine Gael and Sinn Fein councillors defeated the rezoning recommendation by 12 votes to seven at a meeting on November 1, 2006.

It means that Mr O’Brien is now the owner of a field which can only be used for agricultural purposes – and is worth substantially less than the multi-million euro fee he paid for it. He has never disclosed the exact price.