Greens deny party knew 'general thrust' of docks report

GREEN TDS and Senators have rejected claims of former senator Déirdre de Búrca that the parliamentary party was aware of the “general thrust” of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) report.

Dublin Mid West TD Paul Gogarty said the parliamentary party was not given details of any interim findings by party leader and Minister for the Environment John Gormley at a meeting before Christmas.

“Yes, there was a parliamentary party meeting at which it was mentioned that the report was coming up. There was some allusion to the fact it might reflect badly on some decisions made by people in power at the time,” Mr Gogarty said. “But we didn’t see a document; we didn’t see a synopsis.”

The party’s deputy leader, Mary White, said the context for the report being mentioned was when reference was made to Fine Gael environment spokesman Phil Hogan’s Private Member’s Bill on the the authority, which was discussed in the Dáil in December.

“None of us have seen it. None of us know what’s in it, and we won’t know what’s in it until it comes into the public domain, and it will come into the public domain as soon as the AG (attorney general) has had a look.”

Asked if there was any basis for Ms de Búrca’s assertion that the report would cause discomfort in Fianna Fáil, Ms White said she had no recollection of that being discussed at any parliamentary party meeting.

Party whip Ciaran Cuffe, TD for Dún Laoghaire, said Mr Gormley had mentioned the upcoming authority report “in passing” at a parliamentary party meeting.

“I haven’t seen this report. I suspect if it deals with the issues that have already been publicly aired it won’t comment favourably on certain decisions that the authority made,” Mr Cuffe said.

Party chairman Dan Boyle said TDs and Senators had not been told anything that would suggest the report would cause discomfort in Fianna Fáil. “We haven’t seen the contents or anything else. It would be inappropriate. We’ll see it when the public see it.”

Green Minister of State and former leader Trevor Sargent said there was nothing to suggest the report would be delayed. “The report has only just been received by John (Gormley). As is required, he has passed it to the attorney general, who is assessing its legal implications prior to publication.”

New Senator Niall Ó Brolcháin said he believed none of the members of the parliamentary party, other than Mr Gormley, had seen the report.

Mr Ó Brolcháin, who was elected in December, said he would not have been present at a parliamentary party meeting at which the report was referred to.

“I’ve no doubt in the whole Celtic Tiger era any planning report in any area of the country is going to raise a lot of issues for the Government of the day and for local authorities. If Déirdre has specific allegations she should bring them into the public domain.”

Meanwhile, Ms de Búrca insisted she had raised the docklands authority issue with party leadership prior to her recent resignation. She yesterday released to media outlets a copy of an email she forwarded to Mr Gormley and Mr Boyle in August of last year. She had received it from a person who corresponded with her about the authority, she said.

A spokesman for the Greens in Government said the email “in no way equates to raising the DDDA issue” as it was sent before the inquiry was set up, it related to concerns about DDDA accounts and was not written by Ms de Búrca.