THE MINISTER for the Environment has said he may call for further investigations into past actions of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) following the publication by Fine Gael yesterday of three draft internal DDDA reports.
John Gormley rejected allegations by Fine Gael that the Government was involved in a “cover-up”. He described the claims as scurrilous and “muck-raking”.
Fine Gael’s environment spokesman Phil Hogan laid the three documents before the Oireachtas but claimed that none came close to explaining the full truth of what happened within the authority over the past decade.
Mr Hogan said he was disappointed to learn that none of the reports inquired into past decision-making.
He asserted that the State was potentially exposed to €500 million in losses through the authority’s involvement in the consortium that purchased the Irish Glass Bottle Company site in Ringsend for €412 million. One of the reports has reduced the value of the authority’s 26 per cent share in the site to zero.
The three reports separately cover the authority’s approach to its financial systems, planning issues and the DDDA board’s response to the two earlier reports.
The reports say there are question-marks over the legality of some dockland developments because they involved inappropriate planning.
The board’s report says information on planning issues was “deliberately and systematically withheld from the current executive board”.
It also says the authority is unable to operate on a break-even basis because of the €5 million per annum interest bill it faces on the glass bottle site venture.
Alleging a political cover-up, Mr Hogan said: “This is a serious political as well as a financial issue. There is no appetite to discover the truth about the cosy relationship between Anglo Irish Bank and the DDDA.”
Seán FitzPatrick and Lar Bradshaw were directors of both the authority and Anglo Irish Bank. The bank funded the glass bottle site purchase.
Mr Hogan said Taoiseach Brian Cowen had approved new loan limits for the authority in 2006, when he was minister for finance, so it could enter into the Glass Bottle deal. This was why Mr Gormley did not want the authority investigated, he said.
“There are indication of the collusion that took place in the DDDA between bankers and developers and executives and politicians.”
Mr Gormley said there was no cover-up. “He accused me of a cover- up several weeks ago. He said they would contain explosive material. He realises that it [the reports] doesn’t contain that explosive material,” he told RTÉ yesterday. Mr Gormley defended his decision not to publish the reports. “I was in no position to put out those reports against the advice of the Attorney General.” He indicated that previous reports had examined what had happened and signalled there might be a need for further reports into how and why certain decisions were made.
Joe Costello of Labour said the reports had raised some disquieting questions that had to be answered.