“PHENOMENAL” LEGAL COSTS OF BY-PASS LAND ACQUISITION PROVOKE CONCERN

“Unbelievable” and “a phenomenal amount of money” were the descriptions applied by Sinn Féin’s Brian McKenna at Tuesday’s meeting of Monaghan Co Council to legal and other costs of €626,000 which had arisen in relation to the compulsory purchase of a section of land by the Council to facilitate the development of the Monaghan by-pass.

Colr McKenna asked for an official statement on the amount of costs, which were detailed in financial reports which came before the members for consideration when they met on Tuesday.

Matt Carthy asked if the total legal and other costs of €626,000 in relation to a compulsory purchase order for the Monaghan by-pass were included in the €1.348 million compensation figure relating to this project, or were additional to it.

Asking for the members to be supplied with a breakdown of the costs figure, the SF representative referred to the current state of the county’s roads, and the cost of works which members were seeking to have done in their local areas, which the Council said they did not have money for.

“I would like a full report in relation to the payment and how we arrived at a …