A community of elderly nuns in south Tipperary has lodged an objection to a planned hotel development on former convent land which was allegedly sold for a fraction of its value.
The nuns sold the land to Cashel Town Council believing that it would be used for a town park. But the council has decided instead to allow a major commercial development on the site which has created considerable controversy in the heritage town.
The origins of the dispute lie in a decision, in 2000, by the Presentation Order to end its 170-year presence in the town, due to a decline in vocations. The nuns opted to sell the convent and adjoining two acres of grounds at St Francis Abbey, Friar Street.
Sr Patricia Wall, a spokeswoman for the Presentation Order in Co Tipperary, said that a local businessman, Michael McCormack, offered to buy the entire property for £600,000 (€761,000) and paid a deposit to the order's Clonmel-based auctioneer.
Mr McCormack planned to convert the convent into a nursing home and use the grounds as gardens for the residents.
But Cashel Town Council "intervened", pointing out that the two-acre site was zoned for "recreation" and intended for "conversion into a town park".
Sr Patricia said the council threatened the nuns with a compulsory purchase order forcing them to pull out of the deal.
In subsequent negotiations, Mr McCormack bought the convent buildings (and has since opened St Teresa's, a family-run nursing home), while the council acquired the land.
The nuns received a total of £600,000 from the combined sales.
Sr Patricia said they were "upset and annoyed" to discover that the council then proceeded to "rezone the land" for commercial development and invited proposals from developers.
Last year, the council agreed to sell the site to a Clonmel company for €1.9 million - resulting in a net gain of about €1.5 million - having paid the nuns the equivalent of €380,000.
The deal is subject to planning permission being granted to CMS Developments Ltd of Gurtnafleur Business Park, for an 83-bedroom five-storey hotel, two commercial buildings and a car park. The company lodged its planning application last December and a decision is due by February 23rd.
But 37 objections have been lodged, including one from the nuns "on the grounds that the conditions of sale were not fulfilled".
Sr Patricia explained: "We thought the land would be used for a town park which would be our legacy to the people of Cashel." She added "we are questioning the ethics and morality of this deal", but said she found it "hard to believe that the council would deliberately deceive us".
Shelagh Marshall, secretary of the Save Our Town Park Committee said more than 1,400 people - over half the adult population of Cashel - have signed a petition calling for the convent grounds to be preserved as a town park.
Mr McCormack, who is also objecting, said he would be forced to close his nursing home as "the noise from the hotel disco" would distress residents.
Séamus Maher, town clerk of Cashel, said the development was needed because "[ existing] hotels in the town can't cope with tourist numbers", but declined to answer further questions in advance of a statement due to be issued to media and councillors in Tipperary today.
South Tipperary Fine Gael TD Tom Hayes said he would raise the matter in the Dáil this week and ask the Minister for the Environment to prepare a report on the matter.
Disputed site
The disputed land in the centre of Cashel comprises two acres located behind the former convent buildings on Friar Street.
The land contains a variety of mature trees including beech, lime, oak, chestnut, sycamore and weeping ash.
A stone wall is inset with elaborate, delicately painted Stations of the Cross sculpted in 1925 and "presented to Sr Mary John Evangelist Barton".
A former summer house, which locals say should have been preserved, has been demolished.
The site, with commanding views of the Rock of Cashel, includes former tennis courts, a camogie field and a nuns' graveyard. The grounds were traditionally used by the townspeople for May processions.
The Save Our Town Park Committee claims the spot would make an ideal public park and that the council owns 14 acres on the outskirts of Cashel "which would be more suitable for the development of a hotel and car-park to accommodate tourist coaches". The planning application for the convent site has space for "only two coaches".