The Earl of Limerick has broken his silence over the development of luxury apartments on land donated to the city by one of his ancestors for use as a public park.
Edmund Pery, seventh Earl of Limerick, described the five-storey apartment block in a corner of the People's Park as an insult to the people of the city and expressed his deep regret over its construction.
The earl also indicated that he was not furnished with full information about the development and said he assumed it would have been environmentally sensitive and socially useful.
Minister of State Tim O'Malley is awaiting a response to a detailed list of questions submitted to Environment Minister Dick Roche on several aspects of the development.
The Limerick East TD said yesterday that the statement from the earl vindicated his own sceptical attitude towards the development from the outset.
"The development is of no social or environmental benefit whatsoever, and the earl's astonishment at the turn of events is shared widely by the ordinary people of Limerick," said Mr O'Malley.
It is understood that the earl was deeply upset when he learned that land which he had agreed to transfer to the council was then sold for a private development.
"It is clear that the present building is a blight upon the park and an insult to those who enjoy it, and had I known at the time what we all now know, I would not have indicated no objection to its construction," said the earl.
The section of park where the luxury block now stands, in part, had been held in trust under the terms of a 500-year lease agreed in 1877 by a previous earl of Limerick, the trustees of the People's Park and Limerick Corporation.
However, lease restrictions were removed when the council paid €75,000 to the Earl of Limerick's estate and €75,000 to the trustees of the People's Park for the freehold and leasehold respectively.
Council officials then sold the park site, plus some land it already held in the area, to Reidy Civil Engineering Ltd for €1.57 million.
The developer erected a five-storey block of 59 apartments, a mix of office and retail space and an underground car park.
Edmund Pery said his estate first learned of the project shortly after the death of his father, Patrick Pery, the sixth earl, in early 2003.
The earl said he understood the development had already been granted planning permission by Limerick City Council and was told it would be outside the park proper.
"We did not want to oppose the wishes of this elected body which we assumed had undergone due process and represented the wishes of the people of Limerick, and therefore indicated we had no objection," he said.
City manager Tom Mackey said he was happy that the full market value had been realised and added that the development had gone through the public consultation process.
However, he declined to comment specifically on the Earl of Limerick's new criticism of the development.
The earl, a lawyer who divides his time between the UK and Dubai, stressed that his family's estate did not gain financially from the transfer of the freehold to Limerick City Council.