The Gazette 1982

INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY OF IRELAND GAZETTE \c 4

J r J f e •

July/August 1982

Vol. 76 No. 6

Comment.. . Gallagher Bonds A NEW difficulty for house owners and builders or buyers of new houses on building estates owned by or developed under Licence from Gallagher Group Com- panies has now emerged, in that there may be no funds available to secure the satisfactory completion and main- tenance of the roads, footpaths and services on such estates. It has been the practice in certain areas and in Dublin City and County in particular, for Planning Authorities to insert conditions in planning permissions requiring the developer to lodge with the Planning Authority "a cash deposit, a bond of an insurance company, or other security to secure the satisfactory completion and maintenance of roads and services until taken in charge by the Local Authority". The practice has been for bonds to be provided by insurance companies or, more frequently, by the Construction Industry Federation. This system appears to have worked reasonably well, apart from complaints that inflation has eroded the value of the security. In the case of certain Gallagher Group estates, it appears that Dublin County Council, in particular, has accepted as security the deposit of monies with Merchant Banking Limited, a company within the Gallagher Group, now in liquidation. It is understood that Merchant Banking Limited is seriously insolvent and that the value of any deposit receipts issued by that Bank is extremely dubious. Many innocent house owners and builders, operating under licence from Gallagher Group Companies, now find their houses difficult to sell. It has been suggested that the Local Authority was negligent in permitting the deposit to be made by a Gallagher Group Company with a Bank which was also a member of the Group of Companies; it has even been supposed that persons who relied on letters issued by the Planning Authority confirming the existence of such a deposit as compliance with the appropriate condition in a Planning Permission may have an action for negligence against the Local Authority in respect of any loss which they may suffer, under the " Hedley Byrne v Heller and Partners " doctrine, recently extended to Local Authori- ties by the High Court of Australia in the " Shaddock and City of Parramatta " Case (High Court of Australia 28 October 1981, unreported). It is to be hoped that it will not be necessary for this to be tested in the Irish Courts. There must be a very strong argument for requiring Local Authorities to meet the necessary costs of complet- ing the roads and services on such estates, on the ground that they represented to all enquiring parties that the appropriate condition in the Planning Permission had been complied with. In some cases, this may put a very (continued on p. 133) 123

In this issue...

Comment

123

District Court and the Press

125

Local Authorities and the Press

129

Bench Commandments — US Style

133

Rape Cases — A Trial within a Trial

135

Presentation of Parchments

132

New Book on Local Government Law

138

Book Review

139

Correspondence

140'

Land Registry — Mapping

141

Professional Information

142

Executive Editor: Mary Buckley Editorial Board: Charles R. M. Meredith, Chairman John F. Buckley Gary Byrne William Earley Michael V. O'Mahony Maxwell Sweeney Advertising: Liam Ó hOisin, Telephone 305236 The views expressed in this publication, save where other-wise indicated, are the views of the contributors and not necessarily the views of the Council of the Society.

Published at Blackhall Place, Dublin 7.