Roadstone Dublin Ltd has insisted that the former chairman of CRH, Mr Des Traynor, played no part in the purchase by the company of 17.5 acres of land from Mr Charles Haughey for £140,000 in 1973, which was disclosed at the Moriarty tribunal.
The lands, which were contained within Mr Haughey's Kinsealy estate, were identified as "prime limestone-bearing lands" and the price of £140,000 was agreed with Abbeville Ltd "following a tough arm's-length negotiation", according to a statement issued on behalf of the company.
Mr Haughey had paid £140,000 for his Gandon mansion at Abbeville and a 250-acre estate - including that piece of land - in 1969.
But he was to raise that amount of money from the land he sold Roadstone. The proceeds of the sale of 17.5 acres to Roadstone for the same price were used to help clear a debt of more than £288,000 which Mr Haughey had at the time with Allied Irish Banks.
The sale took place a year and a half after Mr Haughey was proposed as the chairman of CRH, Roadstone's parent company. In May 1972, Mr Des Traynor and Mr Ancor Lund, both directors of Cement Ltd, proposed Mr Haughey as chairman of CRH, but this caused a major rift within the company and Mr Haughey was never appointed.
It had been agreed informally that Mr R.P. Willis, managing director of Irish Life, would become chairman instead.
The approach to Mr Haughey had been made without the knowledge of the Roadstone directors and when it came to light, a CRH board meeting took place attended by the five Roadstone directors and none of the Cement directors. At this meeting, Mr Willis was appointed chairman.
Had Mr Haughey been appointed, he would have succeeded his father-in-law, the former taoiseach Mr Sean Lemass, who was appointed as first chairman of the company after its formation in 1970.
A spokesman for Roadstone stressed last night that Mr Traynor never held an executive position within CRH, Roadstone or any other of its subsidiaries.
Mr Traynor played no role in identifying or purchasing any land on behalf of CRH or Roadstone, according to the spokesman.
Roadstone Dublin Ltd has issued a statement to The Irish Times on the purchase of land by Roadstone from Mr Haughey in 1973, which emerged at the Moriarty tribunal.
The statement said Roadstone bought the 17.5 acre site from Abbeville Ltd in 1973 "because it was identified through geological reports as prime limestone-bearing land". The land was strategically located adjacent to the company's existing operation and its acquisition was "crucial to the development of Roadstone's entire Feltrim quarry".
The statement added: "The price paid, £140,000, was agreed as a result of these factors. All negotiations were conducted in an entirely ethical and professional manner by executives of Roadstone. The lands in question were quarried as part of Roadstone's overall development at Feltrim."
Roadstone quarried land in the Feltrim area of north County Dublin for many years before Mr Haughey bought his Abbeville home nearby for £140,000 in 1969.
In a land deal between Mr Haughey and Roadstone shortly after his purchase of Abbeville, Mr Haughey acquired 80 acres of land and Roadstone later obtained 33 acres at Feltrim.
Mr Traynor, who controlled Mr Haughey's finances, was appointed a non-executive director of Cement Roadstone Holdings and Roadstone Ltd after the formation of the company in 1970, in which he was instrumental. He was also made an alternate director of Cement Ltd. Mr Traynor eventually became non-executive chairman of CRH in 1987 and also served on the acquisitions committee of CRH.
The Moriarty tribunal heard that the £140,000 paid by Roadstone to Mr Haughey in December 1973 was used by Mr Haughey to help clear a debt of £286,097 which he had with Allied Irish Banks. A loan of £150,000 obtained from the Northern Bank Finance Corporation was used to clear the remainder of Mr Haughey's debt with the bank.
AIB records opened at the tribunal showed that Mr Haughey's debt with the bank stood at £225,000 in 1971. A document detailing the history of Mr Haughey's account states that the bank was told that Mr Haughey was negotiating the sale of 40/50 acres at Abbeville to Roadstone and was privately trying to sell 154 acres at Ashbourne for £100,000. In response, the AIB board "expressed extreme dissatisfaction".
In November 1972, Mr Haughey's debt stood at £183,000 and Mr Haughey gave an undertaking to clear this debt in full by the end of February 1973 from the sale of Ashbourne lands, for which he had an offer of £200,000. Mr Haughey had also received an approach for these lands from the concrete company Readymix. Mr Haughey also undertook to sell 30 acres at Abbeville, for which Roadstone had offered £100,000.
By April 1973, Mr Haughey's account was overdrawn by £221,747. The board fixed a limit of £230,000 on his personal account and £10,000 on his Rath Stud account, subject to the clearance of his debts through the land sales.
Mr Haughey's debt had risen to £286,097 by December 1973 and his Stud account was overdrawn by £9,039. At this time, Roadstone bought 17.5 acres from Mr Haughey for £140,000 and borrowing of £150,000 was arranged from Northern Bank Finance.
A cheque for £35,000 was received by the bank from Mr Haughey's solicitors in January 1974, representing part of the proceeds of the sale. A further £105,000 was received in January 1975.
The Moriarty Tibunal resumes its public hearings tomorrow.