Last week, Wicklow Town Council become the first local authority in the State to transfer a loan to the Department of the Environment under the Land Aggregation Scheme.
The move occurred when the Town Council found itself unable to repay a loan of €1.4m that was taken out ten years ago to purchase three acres of land in the town for social and affordable housing.
The Land Aggregation Scheme allows local authorities to offload land purchased for social and affordable housing but unlikely to be developed following the downturn in the market. Following a vote by the Town Council to go that route, the loan and ten years of interest will now be repaid by the Department of the Environment and the land transferred to the recently established Housing and Sustainable Communities Agency.
‘Seaspray and Whisky’ reprinted
In recent years, many readers contacted me about about where to get a book I once recommended, ‘Seaspray and Whisky’, written by a friend of mine, Norman Freeman, who is also a very fine writer on the subject of Gaelic Games. I was delighted to learn earlier this week that the book has been reprinted and should be in your favourite bookshop any day now.
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