Plan for hundreds of student apartments at former convent site on Cork's northside 

Preparations are understood to be at an advanced stage for a planning application to develop hundreds of student apartments on the derelict site of a former Magdalene laundry and orphanage on Cork’s northside, which suffered its latest serious fire this week.

A property development firm is believed to be working on the final stages of a planning application for permission to build in excess of 250 units for student accommodation on the derelict eight-acre Good Shepherd Convent site.

If the proposed development receives planning permission, it is believed it would be the largest such single private development of student accommodation in the city, exceeding the capacity of the 623-bed Bottleworks development on Carrigrohane Rd.

The Good Shepherd site has been on Cork City Council’s derelict sites register since 2019.

Moneda Developments, which is listed as the site’s owners on the city’s derelict sites register, was granted planning by An Bórd Pleanála in 2018 for apartments on the site, but those plans were never progressed, and planning lapsed in December 2023.

Planning application

Now, another property development firm is understood to be weeks away from submitting a planning application for the site under the large-scale residential development process.

The news comes after the latest fire to occur on the site. The alarm was raised just before midnight on Wednesday, when neighbours witnessed a major blaze breaking out in the former Magdalene laundry section on the western end of the site.

Seven units of Cork Fire Brigade attended the fire, working past dawn on Thursday to bring it under control.

During the fire, a section of the first floor collapsed, bringing down two heavy cast-iron baths, posing a danger to firefighters working below.

The latest incident is the most serious blaze at the site since a major fire in 2022 gutted the eastern block of the convent.

A garda forensics team carried out an examination of the scene on Thursday in an effort to establish the cause of the fire.

Criminal damage

Describing the blaze as “an incident of criminal damage by fire”, a garda source said investigations were ongoing.

There are 110 nuns buried on the site, and a vandalised stone cross on the western end of the site has the names of 30 women who were incarcerated in the Magdalene laundry and are believed to be buried in a mass grave.

However, some of the women named on the headstone are also listed as being buried at another graveyard in Cork.

The site is also the final resting place of Ellen Organ, a four-year-old child who has been venerated as ‘Little Nellie of Holy God’, the so-called unofficial patron saint of Cork since her death in the orphanage in 1908.

Local residents have repeatedly warned that security on the site needed to be increased lest a tragedy occur there.

Asked to comment, Cork City Council said it had placed the former convent on the derelict site register in 2019 and has applied the Derelict Site Act since then.

“The site continues to incur annual derelict sites levies as per the legislation,” a spokesperson said.

“Cork City Council will continue to work with the owners through the planning process to facilitate the development of this large, complex and important site.”