Could Fitzwilliam Square be sold?

ChangingCity: Following the row over ownership of Dartmouth Square in D6, residents of one of Dublin's most distinguished squares are worried about its future. Fiona Tyrrell reports.

Residents of Fitzwilliam Square in Dublin 2 are the latest square dwellers to query the title of their communal grounds, following speculation that the freehold may be about to change hands.

Following the row over Dartmouth Square in Dublin 6 last month, residents of one of Dublin's finest Georgian squares are now worried about rumours that their private park may be about to be sold, with property developer Johnny Ronan said to be the buyer.

However, a spokesperson for the Pembroke Estate, which owns the freehold of the square, denied yesterday that there had been any sale.

"The square is leased to the Fitzwilliam Square Association - owners of the houses along the squuare - for 150 years from 1974 at a nominal rent" he said.

However, rumours of a sale are being taken seriously by the Fitzwilliam Square Residents' Association, who appointed pharmaceutical tycoon Edward Haughey, now known as Lord Ballyedmond, as its new chairperson at a meeting last week where the issue of ownership was hotly debated.

Speaking to The Irish Times, Lord Ballyedmond expressed grave concern at the speculation surrounding the square. However, he was keen to point out that reports that the lease of the park to residents is set to expire shortly are not true.

Fitzwilliam Square Association has "a long and secure lease for the square", he said. "We are not aware of the sale of the freehold to any third party. Regardless of who owns the square, we have a very secure lease and any development by a third party will be vigorously opposed."

The association has an "obligation to protect the best interest of the residents" of Fitzwilliam Square, he said. The park should not be used for any purpose other than recreation purposes, he added.

Informed sources state that there is a provision in the lease for the owner of the freehold of the park to build an underground car park.

Mr Ronan owns one house on Fitzwilliam Square, number 65, and a source said he has approached other residents offering to buy their homes and lease them back to them. However, this is not unusual, with many investors focusing attention on Georgian city centre properties.

All eyes in Dublin have been on the city's squares and parks after the events at Dartmouth Square in Dublin 6.

Residents of properties overlooking the park got a rude awakening when they realised the "public" park was privately owned on finding the gates padlocked shut by Athlone stone merchant Noel O'Gara, who claims he has bought the freehold title to the square.

Dublin City Council, whose lease for the park expired in 1997, has since begun proceedings to put a compulsory purchase order (CPO) on the park in Dartmouth Square.

The episode has prompted the council to undertake a review of titles to public spaces in its charge.

In the case of Darmouth Square, the council had been leasing it from the Darley Estate and operating it as a public park since the late 1980s. The council has been in negotiations with the Darley Estate to buy the freehold of the park for 10 years but had run into difficulties because the title was "inadequate", according Mick Ryan, senior executive officer with the council's planning and development department. The council has already stated the Darley Estate never owned the park in its entirety.

The Dartmouth saga is reminiscent of an incident in the late 1990s, when the 2.5-acre Belgrave Square in Monkstown, Co Dublin, was sold to businessman Eugene O'Connor for £150,000.

The residents eventually bought the grounds back from Mr O'Connor, who made a significant profit.

With over 650 open spaces ranging from public squares and parks to slices of river banks and small triangles of land in the council's proposed review will take some time, according to the council's parks superintendent Gerry Barry.

While the council is happy that it owns the vast bulk of open spaces outright, there may be other areas which could be "vulnerable" and where there could be some difficulties. Land ownership is a tricky business, according to Barry and the council has acquired lands in many in different ways. Land has frequently been purchased by the council from various estates or church authorities.

In some cases open spaces were taken over by the council in the 1970s and 1980s when housing developers went bust. While the council controls these lands and has acquired rights to the land, it may not have outright legal ownership, he said. In other cases the council may not own the freehold for a piece of land but would have a long lease, such as a 150-year lease.