Sligo developer Cathal O’Connor, who is facing two years in prison for a violent assault on three teenagers, was the beneficiary of a Minister’s planning ruling on the same day as he was sentenced for the attack.
The May 1st direction from Minister of State for Local Government and Planning John Cummins was part of a planning process not connected to the criminal case against O’Connor, whose sentence starts next month.
The direction from Cummins, a Fine Gael TD, rejected a recommendation from Planning Regulator Niall Cussen to bring in green-belt zoning for “peripheral and unserviced” land currently designated for business, industry and enterprise.
This had the effect of supporting the value of a 2.29-hectare O’Connor site in Ballysadare, value which could have fallen with green-belt zoning. The village is 9km south of Sligo town.
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Ministers are empowered to reject recommendations from the regulator, but must set out reasons publicly.
Cummins said the ruling on O’Connor land was made on planning merits under a “blind” legal procedure in which he did not know who owned the property.
“Sites were identified by number only,” said the Department of Housing, adding that planning law precluded the Minister “from engaging with any representations on the matter”.
O’Connor, of Beldare Homes, a major Sligo landowner, pleaded guilty in April to beating three 13-year-old boys in 2024 after finding them in a property he owned in a business park.
Judge Keenan Johnson on May 1st imposed a five-year sentence, with the final three years suspended for six years. The start of the sentence was deferred for two months to allow O’Connor to settle business affairs.
O’Connor remains a director of 23 companies. He received a character testimonial in the assault case from former Fianna Fáil TD Marc MacSharry, who is a lobbyist for Beldare.
MacSharry has declared multiple contacts for the company with officials, TDs and Ministers, saying in regulatory returns he lobbied Cummins and seven other housing and Government figures seeking “facilitation of additional zoning”.
However, he declined to say whether he raised the Ballysadare site. “You’ll appreciate we are bound by client confidentiality,” MacSharry said, adding that he took his responsibilities to make regulatory filings extremely seriously.
For his part, the Minister of State said he never engaged with MacSharry.
“Minister Cummins has never met or discussed any matters related to zoning of lands in Sligo with Mr MacSharry or Beldare Homes, despite repeated requests by Mr MacSharry to meet him and a representative from Beldare Homes,” the Department of Housing said.
“In relation to questions posed about Mr O’Connor’s conviction, the Minister condemns in the strongest possible terms any crime committed against children and those who commit such appalling crimes must always face the full force of the law. His thoughts are with the victims involved.”
O’Connor’s many property interests include co-ownership with another Beldare director of a Ballysadare site known as PAZ-44. The current zoning for business, industry and enterprise allows commercial development.
Still, the lands were subject to a Cussen recommendation which would have reduced scope for commercial exploitation if accepted within the Government.
In a letter last year to Minister for Housing James Browne, Cussen acknowledged “existing commercial use” on the PAZ-44 site but called for geen-belt zoning. The area was not identified for new enterprise in the county development plan, Cussen noted.
Green-belt zoning aims to protect countryside lands by restricting urban sprawl into rural areas. It can reduce a site’s value significantly.
Cummins’s letter to the council rejected Cussen’s recommendations in relation to the PAZ-44 site and five others not linked to O’Connor.
In his statement of reasons, Cummins said business, industry, enterprise zoning for PAZ-44 was “reasonable”.
He cited the “long-established” use of the lands and road access, existing patterns of development and future planned land use in the area. He also noted councillors’ power to set speed limits.
Replying to questions, Beldare chief executive Barry White said “existing and pipeline” housing projects will continue.
“We recognise the direction in relation to the lands which were proposed to be green-belted, and note that these lands have had commercial, business and enterprise use on them for over 30 years,” White said.
The Department of Housing said there was no provision in the Planning and Development Act “to enable the Minister to directly receive, or accept, submissions” on such matters, apart from Sligo councillors.
“On receipt of a recommendation from the [Office of the Planning Regulator], the Minister is briefed on the recommendations by officials in the department and his consideration is restricted to the planning merits of the case before him,” it said.
“This was a blind statutory process, and at no point in the process was the Minister aware of the ownership of any lands.”
