Council spent e6m on social housing plans that fell through
Developer said he planned to withdraw from the deals because of changes to the property market
DUBLIN City Council has spent €6m planning the five public housing projects which fell through last week, although not a block has yet been laid.
Developer Bernard McNamara claimed yesterday that the amount was as high as €27m and said he was "astounded" that building homes for the least-well off was not given "higher priority" by the council.
He added that "no serious engagement" took place on one of five public private partnership (PPP) projects he was involved in.
Last week the Clare-born businessman said he planned to withdraw from the deals worth €900m because of changes to the property market, new rules on the size of apartments and planning delays.
Citing the "current economic climate and the substantial changes" in the housing sector, he said that plans for the regeneration of St Michael's Estate, O'Devaney Gardens, Dominic Street, Convent Lands in Sean MacDermot Street and Infirmary Road were "unviable".
PPP schemes, where the State works with private business to build large-scale infrastructure projects, are a key part of government policy as they avoid the need to borrow money.
But yesterday Mr McNamara, who is reported to be worth €239m by the Sunday Times Rich List, said the city council had changed the rules.
"About 10 days ago I was asked to go and see Ciaran McNamara in Dublin City Council, and he said to me 'we don't believe these PPPs are progressing, we've spent €27m and got nothing for it and we want to go a different route," he told RTE's Marian Finucane.
"I said I wasn't into having rows with Dublin City Council, so if that's the route you want to go that's fine.
"We never pulled out. It was explained to me that the process wasn't proceeding."
New apartment size guidelines mean that new homes must be 25pc bigger than under the rules which applied when the deals were agreed.
"The city council says they'll pay you for that, but the problem is it gets you involved in a huge amount of negotiation," he said.
Claims
But the city council rejected claims that €27m had been spent, saying €6m had been spent on the projects to date.
Assistant city manager Ciaran McNamara also rejected claims there had not been "engagement" with Mr McNamara, saying council staff had negotiated from February 2006 to November last year to get the contracts signed.
The developer also said the PPP process was "frustrating" because it did not allow planning permission to be sought until after contracts were signed.
But the assistant city manager said the council was "very willing" to re-engage with the developer.
However meetings would have to be arranged "speedily" because "we can't leave tenants waiting".
Bernard McNamara also rejected claims he owed up to €1.5bn, saying his company was "not exposed" to the extent people believed.
The millionaire businessman owns Michael McNamara Construction which has a turnover of over €600m a year, and is an owner of Dublin's Shelbourne Hotel.
- Paul Melia
