{"id":649333,"date":"2026-10-09T07:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T07:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/649333\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T07:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T07:24:08","slug":"land-development-agency-buys-dundrum-objectors-house-for-e2-15m-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/649333\/","title":{"rendered":"Land Development Agency buys Dundrum objector\u2019s house for \u20ac2.15m \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Land Development Agency<\/a> (LDA) paid more than \u20ac2 million to buy a dormer bungalow in south Dublin<\/a> to settle a High Court<\/a> case by the owner that threatened to further delay almost 1,000 new homes at the former Central Mental Hospital<\/a> in Dundrum<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The public body charged with building homes on State land bought the extended property at Friarsland Road, Goatstown<\/a>, in the spring. <\/p>\n

The deal was completed weeks before Transport Infrastructure Ireland<\/a> (TII) bought four Dartmouth Square houses near the city centre for more than \u20ac9 million to settle MetroLink<\/a> litigation \u2013 the first in a series of TII transactions that could lead to purchase of 15 homes on the square. <\/p>\n

Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> is scheduled to visit the former Central Mental Hospital site on Friday for an event marking the start of building work to develop 934 homes for the LDA and D\u00fan Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council<\/a>. The project has suffered years of planning and legal delays.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0LDA closes in on \u20ac21m deal for UCC\u2019s IMI campus in SandyfordOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Official data on property prices and ownership shows the LDA acquired the Friarsland Road house for \u20ac2.15 million on April 30th. The house backs on to the grounds of the former hospital. <\/p>\n

Residential property price register data suggests the last home to be sold on Friarsland Road changed hands for \u20ac1.085 million in 2023. The market has been rising in the three years since. <\/p>\n

Mark Leonard, himself a developer, initiated judicial review proceedings in February against An Coimisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la<\/a> and D\u00fan Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to challenge planning permission in December for the LDA project. <\/p>\n

Leonard withdrew the case a fortnight later, before receiving High Court permission to pursue the action. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0LDA agrees to buy what will be Ireland\u2019s tallest buildingOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

A note with the 2025 LDA annual report, lodged in the D\u00e1il on Thursday, said the agency \u201cacquired a residential house in Goatstown, Dublin 14\u201d last April. No further information was provided.<\/p>\n

Replying to questions, the LDA did not provide Goatstown address but said it acquired a house \u201cat market value as part of a legal settlement\u201d.<\/p>\n

Data from T\u00e1ilte \u00c9ireann<\/a>, which maintains the official land register, shows the unique folio for the Friarsland Road house was updated in June to show the LDA taking over ownership from Leonard. <\/p>\n

Cork solicitors O\u2019Donovan Baker, who acted for Leonard in the High Court, were asked whether they or their client had any comment on the deal. They had no comment. <\/p>\n

LDA chief executive John Coleman told an Oireachtas<\/a> committee in 2025 that delays from an earlier High Court case against the scheme added \u201cat least \u20ac30 million to the estimated delivery cost\u201d.<\/p>\n

That previous case, in which Leonard was plaintiff, was conceded in 2024 by An Coimisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la predecessor, An Bord Plean\u00e1la. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Land Development Agency (LDA) paid more than \u20ac2 million to buy a dormer bungalow in south Dublin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[75,62627,615,12842,16844,157542,73,61,60,11595,29093,1843,43,12636,40695,275465,29094],"class_list":["post-649333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-an-coimisiun-pleanala","tag-central-mental-hospital","tag-dublin","tag-dun-laoghaire-rathdown-county-council","tag-dundrum","tag-goatstown","tag-high-court","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-land-development-agency","tag-metrolink","tag-micheal-martin","tag-news","tag-oireachtas","tag-ranelagh","tag-tailte-eireann","tag-transport-infrastructure-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}