"UL ACQUISITION IN RHEBOGUE WILL GO DOWN IN IRELAND’S HISTORY OF PROPERTY SCANDALS" - Cllr Sarah Beasley
The purchase of twenty houses to accommodate 80 student places at University of Limerick will go down in Ireland’s chronicle of property scandals.
That’s according to Aontú Cllr Sarah Beasley who has described the Controller and Auditor General’s Report into the acquisition of the units as “damming” and shows that value for taxpayers’ money was certainly not a priority for University of Limerick”.
The report found that there is “no evidence that proper, objective appraisals of the kind that should have been made available to the decision makers, who included the governing authority members, when they were asked to approve the acquisition were made”.
Cllr Beasley, who is Chairperson of the Rhebogue Residents Committee says.
“The Public Spending Code is there for a reason; objective appraisals of investment proposals and the avoidance of premature commitments are central objectives of this Code as we are talking here about the public purse, taxpayers’ money, but we know that instead of prudence, a cavalier attitude was adopted by University of Limerick”.
“This is incredibly galling. The highhanded way in which UL acted is absolutely mind-blowing and infuriating. While I welcome this report, it leaves so many serious unanswered questions. I want these answered on behalf of all taxpayers in Limerick who footed the bill for this extortionate purchase. Why for example were 4 bed semis in Rhebogue valued at €620,000 around the time of the purchase? Why were valuers A and B used when unable to give full conflict of interest declarations.”
“The report Identified that there was a close family connection between valuer B’s lead valuer and the solicitor acting on behalf of the developer. Why was this not explored fully?”
Cllr Beasley goes on to say, “Legitimate concerns arise following the publication of this report and in advance of it being presented to the Dáil, I want key questions answered”.
“For example, who failed to anticipate €1 million in stamp duty, who is responsible for the failure to comply with the principles of the Public Spending Code. Why was there no documentary evidence that the valuation reports received by the University were made available to the members of the Governing Authority for its ‘special purpose’ online meeting on 3 August 2022?
“All of these are very serious questions, and we need accountability. Taxpayers deserve no less”.
