Wicklow council chief to meet councillors as pressure mounts to acquire land from media campus plan
The Wicklow PeopleWicklow County Council chief executive Emer O’Gorman is to meet councillors from Greystones in September to discuss future plans for 27 acres of land the IDA is set to get back from developers of the stalled €300m Greystones Media Campus.
Ms O’Gorman’s planned briefing follows confirmation that she recently met Hackman Capital Partners, the company holding 17 acres of the wider Media Park lands, along with other parties, and is prepared to engage further as concerns mount over decades of inactivity on the prominent commercial site.
The chief executive’s involvement comes at a moment when councillors have shifted from frustration to coordinated political pressure. During their July monthly meeting, councillors spoke with unusual unanimity about the need for clarity, timelines and decisive action.
Cllr Lourda Scott said she welcomed “movement on the site” after 40 years of stagnation, but insisted the IDA must now set out plainly how it intends to use the land, particularly in light of the government’s call for sites to use for housing, and the recently adopted local area plan.
Plans for the Greystones Media Campus.
Cllr Stephen Stokes remarked that the land has been vacant “longer than he has been alive”, arguing that Greystones cannot afford to lose the job creation potential that was once central to the media campus vision.
Cllr Louise Fenlon Gaskin said councillors must push for clearer timelines and insisted that Wicklow County Council must play its part in shaping the site’s future. Cllr Orla Finn and Cllr Mark Barry both stressed the “huge potential” of the land and said proper due diligence is imperative before any decisions are made.
The councillors argue that the original media campus vision promised major employment opportunities for Greystones, and while they continue to support efforts to deliver jobs, recent indications that any future development may be scaled back raise “important questions” about how the public asset should now be used.
They say that after almost four decades of attempts by the IDA to unlock the employment potential of the lands, “the time has come to take a fresh approach”.
The councillors emphasise that Greystones is one of the fastest growing communities in Ireland, with thousands of new homes built in recent years, but community infrastructure lags far behind.
In their view, the 27 acres present a “unique opportunity” to deliver the public amenities the area urgently needs, and they argue that publicly owned land “cannot continue to sit unused”.
They argue that Greystones’ rapid population growth, combined with persistent pressure on schools, transport and community facilities, means the land must be re‑examined through a community‑led lens, rather than left to drift under national ownership.
The councillors say the site is a “valuable public asset” and should not remain underused any longer.
As part of their agreed actions, the councillors have requested a meeting with the IDA to discuss both the future of the lands currently held by Hackman Capital Partners, and the potential return of the 27 acres they intend to return to the IDA to the council.
They have also sought a meeting with Hackman Capital Partners to discuss the development plans for the 17 acres under its control and the timeframe for any construction.