Bessborough CPO would be costly, warns councillor who was born in the Cork institution

A former lord mayor of Cork, who was born in the former Bessborough mother and baby institution, has reminded his colleagues that, if there is a compulsory purchase of the site, landowners could be entitled to compensation because planning has already been granted.

Last week, An Coimisiún Pleanála substantially upheld planning permission which was earlier granted by Cork City Council, clearing the way for the building of 106 apartments on the former Bessborough grounds.

A motion before Monday’s council meeting, calling on the Government to begin examining the process of compulsorily purchasing the site’s 60 acres, was passed unanimously.

That vote followed a debate which was facilitated, more than five hours into a packed agenda, by a suspension of standing orders requested by Labour Party councillor Peter Horgan.

During those discussions, Terry Shannon, a Fianna Fáil councillor for the Cork city south-east ward and who served as lord mayor in 2011, said he had been born in the mother and baby institution.

“I’m not a survivor, I was born in Bessborough, as were my brother and my two sisters. I’m not a survivor, I’m a citizen,” he said.

“Many people I know who were born in Bessborough are not survivors, we’re citizens. We don’t regard ourselves as survivors, and I don’t know where that term came from. If other people want to label themselves that way, then that’s fair enough. But don’t call me it, because I support the campaign, but let’s be careful the type of words we’re using.”

Mr Shannon cautioned against what he called “emotive, simplistic arguments”, and criticised the Labour Party for what he said was “party political” behaviour in “calling out the Taoiseach”.

Mr Shannon is one of Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s oldest friends, since the early 1980s.

Mr Shannon’s late wife Ursula was born in London and taken from her mother to be brought to Bessborough or, in her own words, “trafficked to Ireland for adoption”.

Mr Shannon said he was happy to support calls for the compulsory purchase of the Bessborough site, but he said councillors needed to be aware that landowners would be entitled to compensation for residential land with extant planning permission.

“This will cost a lot of money and where it’s going to come from, I have no idea. But if it was simple and if it was workable, it would have been done long ago,” 

he said.

Responding to criticisms, assistant chief executive Brian Geaney defended the council’s planning department, saying it was “neither accurate nor fair” to suggest they were out of touch.

He pointed out that the Bessborough land had been rezoned for residential development in the Cork City Development Plan, which had been adopted by councillors in June 2022.

Mr Geaney said the question was, therefore, whether the proposed development could lawfully proceed, taking into account planning law, environmental and archaeological requirements, and public interest considerations.

Before Monday’s council meeting, a cross-party group of councillors gathered on the steps of City Hall in opposition to the development at Bessborough.

A rally against that development is planned for 2.30pm on Saturday at Cork City Library.