Council selling land to HSE for €160,000
WEXFORD County Council is selling one and a half acres of land at Newtown Road to the HSE for €160,000 to facilitate the future development of Wexford General Hospital.
Councillors expressed concern about a report that the land will be used for an extension to the hospital car park but were reassured by Director of Services Tony Larkin that this will not be the case.
The site opposite the Department of the Environment at the entrance to the hospital is owned by the local authority and was previously offered for sale publicly on the open market. The HSE requested that they be allowed to purchase it for the future expansion of the hospital.
The price of €160,000 was agreed according to a formula for the disposal of property between one state agency and another and was based on an estimate from the valuation office, according to Mr Larkin.
The announcement was welcomed by Cllr Ger Carthy who had earlier proposed that the council sell land to the HSE for the hospital. Cllr Carthy said there was a report going around that the site was to be used for car parking but he was assured by the hospital’s clinical director Colm Quigley that this would not happen.
The Director of Services said he had discussions with the clinical director about this and he was told the land was for additional building work and not a car park.
Cllr George Lawlor said he had also been concerned about the site being used for car parking but he understood that building work will be taking place in a section of the existing car park and the new site will be used to replace the lost car parking.
The Director of Services said he has been asked by the CEO to ringfence any additional land that the council has left in the area. ‘We will be reserving the adjacent land to allow the HSE’s plans to come to fruition. That is our aim. It has been taken off the market’, he said.