Council leases camogie pitch without full title

CLARE County Council does not have full title for lands it has agreed to lease to Clare Camogie Board, it has been revealed this week.
At the end of 2011, the council agreed a 99-year lease with the camogie board for a pitch for a designated county grounds at the former landfill site in Doora, on the outskirts of Ennis. However, it has since emerged that a portion of that land is not vested in the local authority’s name.
Despite this, Clare camogie officials remain confident they will have use of their new pitch this year and plans are advancing towards an official opening in October.
When the Doora landfill site was closed a number of years ago, it was decided to develop a number of playing pitches. Now it appears the council had facilitated waste disposal for decades on lands for which it did not have full title.
Asked about the transfer of the pitch to Clare Camogie Board, the council said its solicitors are preparing the lease agreement based on the council’s usage and occupation of the lands over the past 50 years.
“The draft lease should be with the camogie board’s solicitors inside the next week or so and both parties are working towards the camogie board taking possession of the site on foot of the lease at an early date,” a council statement confirmed.
Clare camogie chairperson, Orla Considine said, “The council are in possession of the land and they have granted us use of it for 99 years. We want to get in there as early as possible. We have a lot of work to do ourselves, outside of the council, for the October opening and that’s what we are working towards.”
The camogie board hopes to have possession of the pitch by March.