A Limerick city landowner’s legal challenge against vacant site levies backfired spectacularly as An Coimisiún Pleanála doubled the financial penalties to €140,000. The planning board ruled that the original €35,000 annual tariffs for 2023 and 2024 were miscalculated and should have been set at €70,000 each year.
When Thanos Securities Limited contested local authority tariffs on a long-vacant property in Limerick’s Georgian quarter, the company likely expected relief.
The Dispute Over 34-41 Catherine Street
At the center of the dispute is a 0.2-hectare site spanning numbers 34 to 41 Catherine Street. The property, which formerly housed a pub, nightclub, and newspaper facility, was first added to the local authority’s vacant sites register in 2018.
Thanos pushed back against the penalties by taking the case to An Coimisiún Pleanála. The developer argued that the site was neither vacant nor idle, pointing out that significant improvement work had taken place between 2019 and 2023. The company noted that hoarding and scaffolding went up in 2022 for enabling works, and that the location served as a construction compound starting in early 2023 to help facilitate nearby building projects by the Peter McVerry Trust alongside the council. Thanos also questioned the official valuation of the property.
An Coimisiún Pleanála Rejects Temporary Use Arguments
The planning board’s inspector made short work of those defenses. While she acknowledged that the site’s outward appearance had seen significant improvements, she concluded that the buildings themselves remained undeveloped and significantly detract
from the surrounding neighborhood. Furthermore, the inspector found that utilizing the space temporarily as a construction compound for adjacent projects did not alter its underlying vacant status.
Rather than providing the reduction or cancellation Thanos sought, the inspector reviewed the underlying math and found that the council had severely undercharged the company. Under the statutory formula, the levy must be calculated at 7 per cent of the site’s valuation. The board applied this correction across both contested years, doubling the total penalty to €140,000.
A Two-Decade History of Planning Applications
The vacant site designation follows years of stalled development aspirations for the prominent Georgian quarter address. Planning applications for the land date back as far as 2004, when a bid to demolish numbers 34 to 36 to make room for apartments was blocked due to architectural heritage concerns. Subsequent approvals granted to earlier owners in 2006 and 2008 covered a mix of residential, retail, and office units, while Thanos itself secured permission in 2020 to construct offices and 48 apartments.
The financial pressure on the landowner has escalated alongside the property’s estimated worth. Earlier levies covering 2020, 2021, and 2022 were calculated using a €500,000 valuation established back in 2019. A fresh valuation three years later showed the land had doubled in value to €1 million. This rising valuation directly powered the higher financial penalty discovered during the appeal.
Compulsory Acquisition Battles and Future Development Plans
Tensions between the local authority and the landowner have deep roots. In 2019, An Coimisiún Pleanála permitted Limerick City and County Council to compulsorily acquire the property after determining that the buildings had reached a neglected, unsightly and objectionable condition.
Thanos responded by launching a High Court challenge against that acquisition in 2020, though that legal fight was adjourned generally in March 2020 with no subsequent court dates recorded.
Despite the ongoing levy disputes and historical delays, the local authority approved a fresh development blueprint last May authorizing 76 apartments on the site. Under these approved blueprints, numbers 35 and 37 Catherine Street—both recognized as protected structures—are slated for refurbishment and conversion into apartments, while the remaining non-protected buildings on the patch will be demolished.
