Little progress on plans to CPO tragic Castleday site

Exactly a year after Westmeath County Council said a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) would issue for a former shop and petrol station in Castledaly where a tragic triple murder took place over 20 years ago, very little progress has been made on acquiring the site.

A written reply issued to Fine Gael Cllr John Dolan at the April meeting of Athlone Moate Municipal - in response to a request for an update - stated “ It is intended to progress this CPO in 2025.”

However, a written response issued to Cllr Dolan at the April 2024 meeting of the municipal district stated that a CPO for the Castledaly site was due to be issued “in the coming weeks.”

Cllr Dolan has been leading the charge to have the former shop and petrol station purchased by Westmeath County Council so that it can be demolished, making the site available for community use. Central to these redevelopment plans will be a memorial to the memory of the late Debbie Fox and her two sons Trevor (9) and Killian (7) who were murdered by Debbie's husband and the children's father, Gregory in 2001. He was sentenced to life in prison for the triple murder in November 2003.

It has been almost two years since Cllr Dolan received the unanimous backing of his council colleagues when he submitted a motion to the May 2023 meeting of the municipal district calling on the council to serve a CPo on the old shop and to purchase the property for community use.

Progress has been well behind schedule ever since, and both the Director of Services and the District Manager outlined the complexities of the CPO process at last month's meeting of the municipal district.

District Manager Willie Ryan commented that the CPO process is “very complex” while Director of Services Jackie Finney told the meeting that property rights in Ireland are “very strong” and the local authority is required to make “a very strong case to An Bord Pleanála” in all cases where they seek to CPO a site.

She added that it is “the intention” of the council to CPO the Castledaly site along with properties in Athlone and Moate which have been earmarked for compulsory purchase, but she stressed again that it is “quite complex” to bring “any property” down the CPO route. “We have to make a very strong case that the purchase is for the public good,” said Ms. Finney.

Cllr Aengus O'Rourke said he had been “emboldened” by a response which members had received at the April meeting from the Department of Housing in response to a query for clarification on the CPO process which he said “puts the onus on councils to do something about derelict sites”.

While the letter was not read to the meeting, Cllr O'Rourke said the response from the Department indicates that local authorities “definitely have powers we are not using” and he pledged to continue to raise the issue of derelict sites “at every opportunity” at future meetings.

Cllr Paul Hogan called on the council executive to be “more pro-active” in their approach to derelict sites and said they now have “a full picture” of how to proceed in light of the response from the Department of Housing.

A CPO is a legal function that grants certain statutory bodies like councils the right to take ownership of land and/or property without requiring the owner’s consent. However, the local authority must meet set criteria and prove the purchase of land and/or property is in the public interest.

Previous meetings of Athlone Moate Municipal District have been told that the CPO process is only used as a last resort in terms of achieving particular council objectives. It requires the Chief Executive of the council to sign the order to initiate a CPO, which is then sent to An Bord Pleanála. Submissions can be made to the planning board by members of the public which can cause delays to what is already a complicated process,