Dublin Corporation and a trust controlled by the Guinness family have resolved legal difficulties over the ownership of Dublin's landmark Iveagh Market site. Barry O'Halloran reports.

Legal differences have delayed development plans there by six years. The company involved has spent an estimated €6 million on the development.

The Iveagh Market building on Francis Street in the centre of the capital has been earmarked for a combined hotel/retail development since 1998, but the developer has been unable to make progress with the plans because of a wrangle over ownership.

Dublin Corporation granted Lord Iveagh Hotels and Markets Ltd a lease to the property in 1998 for €1.9 million. The owner, businessman and hotelier Mr Martin Keane, has blamed the legal difficulties, which did not involve his firm directly, for the delay.

The Guinness family-controlled Iveagh Trust is the property's ultimate owner. Under a long-standing agreement, Dublin Corporation has held the use of the building, which was originally operated as a market for traders from the Liberties area of the city.

The building fell into disuse, and during the 1990s was earmarked for redevelopment under an overall inner city rejuvenation plan. Following a tender process, the local authority chose the proposals put forward by Mr Keane's company.

This involved redeveloping the market as a combined hotel and retail market.

As the corporation could not sell the freehold, that is the complete ownership, to Mr Keane's company, it instead gave it a long lease to the building.

However, he said that when he approached the banks seeking to borrow money to fund the development, using the lease to the site as security, they were not satisfied that its title to the building was secure enough to secure the borrowings.

Mr Keane said that he subsequently had to re-open talks with the corporation to solve the problem. A spokesman for the corporation confirmed this, and said that it had to contact members of the trust to get their permission to grant Lord Iveagh Markets Ltd a new lease that would allow it to raise money against the property.

The spokesman said the legal difficulties had since been resolved, and that the corporation was in a position to grant a new lease to Mr Keane's company.

Mr Keane has spent a total of €4 million on the property to date, including funding an archaeological dig, as a number of historical remains were found under the building. He has pledged that these features will be preserved when the development is complete.

Returns to the Companies' Registration Office show Lord Iveagh Hotels and Markets paid €1.9 million for the site. This means that the development has cost the company a total of €6 million.