An agricultural society that has been leasing the Cork Showgrounds for over 110 years has been in breach of the terms of its lease, it was claimed at an oral hearing yesterday into a proposal by Cork City Council to buy back the lease through a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO).
Barrister for Cork City Council, Pearse Sreenan, said the rental of storage space for cars and tiles at the showgrounds to two commercial companies was not in accordance with the objectives of the Munster Agricultural Society (MAS) and thus in breach of its lease agreement.
Cork City Council has sought to buy out the lease from the MAS through a CPO in order to develop the 22-acre site as a public park to service the nearby €2 billion South Docklands project.
The MAS has appealed the matter to An Bord Pleanála but at yesterday's oral hearing, Mr Sreenan said the admission by the MAS that it could not survive economically without renting out storage space at the showgrounds was a breach of its lease. He also rejected a suggestion by the society that the council should allow it to continue at the showgrounds and that it develop instead Beaumont Park. He said this area was not suitable because it was a former quarry too far from the docklands.
Earlier, engineer Bernard Fitzpatrick on behalf of the MAS, questioned the viability of the council developing the showgrounds as a public park given its proximity to three plants deemed to be hazardous sites under the EU's Seveso directive.
Yesterday's hearing also heard objections to the CPO on behalf of CAB Motors and Examiner Publications, which claim title to a building on the site.