BIZARRE DECISION ON SALE OF LISNALURG LANDS

AT ITS MONTHLY meeting the majority of members of Sligo County Council, in a bizarre decision, voted down a motion that information be provided on the sale of Council lands at Lisnalurg.

Proposing the motion which he had tabled Cllr Declan Bree said "In 2010 the Local Government Auditor pointed out in his annual report that the Council borrowed €11.2 million to purchase lands at Lisnalurg, Sligo.  

"He pointed out that the Council subsequently sold some of the lands in question to a number of purchasers for the sum of approximately €9.6 million.

"By paying that €9.6 million off the loan, the Council should then have had an outstanding €1.6 million balance to pay off in addition to whatever interest was owed.

"However the Auditor discovered that when the Council received the €9.6million for the sale of the lands, only €5.2million of that sum was used to reduce the loan.

"I and indeed many more people want to know what happened to the remaining €4.4 million which the Council received for the sale of the land.   

"That money should have been used to pay off the loan but it appears to have been used for some other purpose.

"Where is the €4.4 million?   What was it used for?   Why was it not used to pay off the loan?   If the money was used for other purposes who authorised it?  Why is there a reluctance on the part of the County Manager to provide a full report on this matter?" asked Cllr Bree.

"Because the money was not used to pay off the loan the Council has had to pay significant interest charges – we know from the Auditors Report that the accrued interest on the outstanding loan up to the end of 2008 amounted to €3.3 million.  

"In May 2010 this Council asked to be provided with a comprehensive report relating to the purchase of the 83 acres of land at Lisnalurg, including the reason for purchasing the lands, the amount of monies borrowed to purchase the lands, the subsequent reason for recommending the sale of 49 acres of the lands and the reason for failing to use the proceeds of the sale to reduce the loans and interest payable, and the details of the accrued interest paid on the outstanding loans.   However to date the County Manager has still not provided this Council with the report it sought.

"What we now need in Sligo is transparency and accountability.  It is unacceptable that a sum of €4.4 million is unaccounted for and that no comprehensive report has been presented to the elected members.

Cllr Bree then proposed the following motion which was seconded by Cllr Sean MacManus: “Noting that it its meeting in May 2010 Sligo County Council adopted the following motion ‘That the Council be provided with a comprehensive report relating to the purchase of 83 acres of land at Lisnalurg, including the reason for purchasing the lands, the amount of monies borrowed to purchase the lands, the subsequent reason for recommending the sale of 49 acres of the lands and the reason for failing to use the proceeds of the sale to reduce the loans and interest payable, and the details of the accrued interest paid on the outstanding loans to date.’; and concerned that the comprehensive report has to date not been provided; this Council instructs the County Manger to provide the comprehensive report for consideration at the April 2012 monthly meeting of the Council and further the Council resolves that in the event of the comprehensive report not being provided that the entire matter be forwarded to the Committee on Public Accounts for investigation.”  The motion was defeated by the combined votes of the Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fail councillors.