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Government parties voted down an attempt to have John Magnier’s purchases of large tracts of land in Tipperary, discussed in the Dáil on Tuesday.
Independent TD Michael McNamara had called for time to be set aside for politicians to debate Coolmore’s land bank and measures to combat further concentration of ownership in the county.
John Magnier, his family and associated people and companies, have accumulated over 10,000ac of land in Tipperary.
Magnier’s most recent purchases included a castle on over 500ac near Thurles and a 60ac farm with development potential on the outskirts of Clonmel. On Tuesday, TD Michael McNamara raised concerns that Coolmore’s purchase of thousands of acres of land in the Golden Vale is leading to local farmers being priced out of land at a time when the agriculture sector is already facing excessive costs.
Speaking in the Dáil, McNamara asked: “Will all of south Tipperary have to be owned by one man and trust funds linked to him before the matter is debated in this house and measures are taken to prevent that concentration of land ownership because of the economic and social consequences of that?”
A vote on the Order of Business for the week was held and McNamara’s proposal was defeated by the Government parties.
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