Justice minister Helen McEntee’s running mate councillor Sharon Tolan proposed a successful motion to rezone land at risk of flooding owned by a friend and former company co-director.
Tolan urged her colleagues to ignore a recommendation from the council’s chief executive not to rezone the land after the planning regulator said it was at risk of flooding. Rejecting a development at the site, An Bord Pleanála had – before Tolan’s motion – ruled the land carried an “unacceptable" flood risk.
The Ditch reported last week that the Meath East general election candidate made disputed claims in another successful bid to rezone land after she’d negotiated a payment from the developer to her own housing estate’s residents’ association.
Tolan later sought to have the land rezoned
In June 2017 councillor Sharon Tolan, her friend Eddie Phelan and a third person incorporated EM Community Development CLG.
Tolan and Phelan served as directors of the nonprofit, which was dissolved in August 2020.
Three months later, in September 2017, a company owned by Phelan and his wife – Virtual Concepts Ltd – became registered owners of 19 acres of land in Mornington, county Meath.
Later that year another company owned by Phelan and his wife, Boyneside Camping Ltd, applied to Meath County Council for permission to build a touring campsite on the Mornington land owned by Phelan’s other company.
The council refused permission for the development in July 2018 because of flooding fears but Boyneside Camping lodged another planning application for the same development the following month.
Councillor Tolan submitted a written observation to the council in September 2018 to express her “strong support” for Boyneside Camping’s proposed development, adding that she was “personally aware of the proposed developer”.
Despite their previous concerns and objections from locals, the council’s planners said they were now satisfied that flooding risks had been addressed and the development received permission in October 2018.
An Bord Pleanála (ABP) however overturned the council’s decision in April 2019, ruling that the “unacceptable risk of flooding” at the site would “conflict with ministerial guidelines”.
Tolan later sought to have the land rezoned.
Two years later, while councillors were finalising the new Meath County Development Plan, Tolan sought an amendment to rezone Phelan’s land from rural to tourism use.
The Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR) intervened and also expressed fears of flooding at the site. Meath County Council’s chief executive recommended the site should not be rezoned for tourism use.
The rezoning came before a special meeting of Meath councillors in September 2021, with Tolan urging her colleagues to ignore the risk of flooding and reject the chief executive’s recommendation.
Tolan’s motion to rezone the land was successful.
Of 34 councillors, 21 – from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil along with independents – voted to reject the chief executive’s recommendation.
Tolan declined to respond to any of the questions The Ditch sent her yesterday afternoon.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of Eddie Phelan, his wife nor any of their companies.
