IRELAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Diarmuid Mawe, Craig Kenny, Katelin Toomey and William Fogarty, Maples Group
2.7 Soil Pollution or Environmental Contamination A buyer may have secondary liability for soil pollution or environmental contamination. If the person or entity that caused the pollution or contamination cannot be identified, the current owner or occupier of the property could become liable under the applicable environmental legis - lation for remediation. It is therefore important that environmental due diligence be carried out by a buyer where compliance with environmental laws is a concern. 2.8 Permitted Uses of Real Estate Under Zoning or Planning Law The Planning Acts govern planning and zon - ing matters in Ireland and regulate the zoning and permitted uses of areas through a variety of development, sustainability, landscape conser - vation and special amenity plans. Each local authority has a development plan that sets out the planning policy of the local authority for a six-year period. This is due to change to a ten-year plan under the Planning Bill. A buyer’s solicitor should carry out a planning search as part of the planning due diligence, and this search should specify the zoning applicable to the property. The State Authorities (Public Private Partnership Arrangements) Act, 2002 (the “2002 Act”) ena - bles local authorities to enter into joint-venture public private partnership (PPP) arrangements with the private sector. A PPP is an arrangement between the public and private sector for the provision of infrastructure or services. Under this model, contractors in the private sector become long-term providers of a service, rather than merely building an asset upfront. This allows
local authorities to plan resources and monitor services, rather than provide them directly. 2.9 Condemnation, Expropriation or Compulsory Purchase Local authorities and other state entities, the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) – a body established by the Irish government in 2009 to function as a “bad bank” acquiring prop - erty loans from Irish Banks – and the Industrial Development Agency (IDA) – Ireland’s inward investment promotion agency – all have the abil - ity to purchase lands compulsorily in connection with their statutory functions. Local authorities can compulsorily acquire lands in the following circumstances: • where property is derelict and poses a danger in the community; • for the purpose of developing infrastructure; and • for conservation/preservation purposes. NAMA has extensive statutory powers to acquire land compulsorily where this is necessary to allow NAMA to fulfil its statutory function and derive the best value from the property assets secured to it. The IDA also has the ability to acquire prop - erty compulsorily for the purpose of industrial development. A key function of the IDA’s role is acquiring land for development purposes, so the IDA’s statutory power to acquire land compulso - rily is quite broad. 2.10 Taxes Applicable to a Transaction A transfer of Irish real estate and certain other property, including shares, is liable to stamp duty payable to the Irish Revenue Commissioners (“Revenue”). Stamp duty is charged on the con -
399 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook