Legal challenge to Wexford County Council's CPO of lands for SETU campus dismissed in High Court
The local authority was given the green light to use its statutory powers to place a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) on more the lands stretching from Killeens across to Whiterock Hill in 2022 in a bid to aid the South East Technological University (SETU) with the creation of a state of the art university campus.
Wexford County Council also unveiled plans for a League of Ireland stadium with a capacity for up to 6,000 for Wexford FC, a new full-size 4G pitch for Wexford GAA, two schools and a whole raft of housing and commercial units as part of its 'Killeens Masterplan'.
However, the project was facing major delays when it emerged back in March that the principal landowner, a Mr Scott Mernagh had taken a legal challenge to the council's CPO and was seeking a full judicial review. He claimed he had been treated poorly throughout the entire process by the local authority.
However, having heard the specifics, a High Court judge found in favour of Wexford County Council and rejected the application for a judicial review.
Chief Executive of Wexford County Council, Eddie Taaffe confirmed that 'following a hearing in the High Court the council has been informed that the landowner's application seeking leave to apply for judicial review of the CPO of lands in Ballynagee, Wexford, has been refused by the Courts and the proceedings dismissed.
"The council now intends to progress the CPO of the lands as per the relevant legislations and regulations,' he concluded.
Labour TD George Lawlor was somewhat taken aback that a legal challenge had emerged in the first place, claiming that Mr Mernagh had approached him when he was Mayor of Wexford, seeking to sell the land to Wexford County Council for the provision of a university campus.
"I'm absolutely delighted with this judgement,' Deputy Lawlor said. 'It seems pretty watertight and I hope it brings finality to this issue.
"Obviously the landowner felt they had to take this course, but the price for the land will be decided by independent arbitration, so I've no doubt he will get the best price possible. I hope we can now push forward with the Killeens Masterplan for the whole 120 acres which includes the SETU campus, at least two schools and of course the stadium for Wexford FC. I think it will be of huge benefit to the town and county.'
Deputy Lawlor says he will be pushing for things to move as quickly as possible from this point onwards.
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"I think, in fairness, the commitment of the SETU board is not in any doubt at this stage,' he said. 'It's been a slow start. Money was first made available for this in 2015. I've been engaging with Minister for Higher Education James Lawless, who is a native of Wexford himself, and he has a keen interest in the SETU campus project.
"What we need now is follow through on the commitment to funding which was made in Simon Harris's day as Minister of Higher Education. We can't have any delays in bringing the tens of millions it will cost to make this a reality to the table.'
Fine Gael senator Cathal Byrne meanwhile is calling for the Higher Education Authority (HEA) to 'make a timely decision on the business case submitted by the board of SETU with regard to their new campus'.
'Once the land is acquired, the SETU must be in a position to act and to progress the project which requires a decision on their business case by the Higher Education Authority,' he said.
'I raised the matter on the floor of Seanad Éireann earlier this year directly with the Minister where I asked them to provide a detailed update on the HEA's plans to advance the project once all other matters had been resolved.
"At that stage the Minister informed me that the HEA had still to decide on the business case submitted by SETU, I did emphasize at the time that this should not delay the project and a decision should be made regardless of any other factors.'
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