Docklands dispute set to be resolved

A disagreement between Dublin Port and South Wharf over a 25-acre Docklands site looks likely to be solved after both firms agreed to put the land up for sale to a third party.

Litigation has been abandoned and under the conditional settlement, third parties would be asked in September to tender to buy the site in Ringsend by taking all the shares of South Wharf, formerly known as Ardagh PLC.
Dublin Port Company is to receive 33.6 per cent of the proceeds with South Wharf shareholders taking the remainder.
A dispute between the two firms began when the Irish Glass Bottle Company, a predecessor of Ardagh, stopped producing on the site it leased in Ringsend. In 2005, South Wharf lost a High Court case which arose from Dublin Port Company’s refusal to let it change the use of its site from manufacturing and warehousing.

In April 2005 South Wharf said it wanted to join with Dublin Port Company to redevelop the property. South Wharf then tried to get Dublin Port to sell the site which Dublin Port disputed.
The case was to be heard between the two firms in July. A statement from the companies said that both parties had “conditionally agreed to settle the outstanding litigation between them in relation to the Ringsend site”.