Councillors in Limerick have said they were not aware that council officials were negotiating the controversial sale of lands it did not yet own nearly a year before planning permission was granted.
However, the officials at Limerick City Council had already sought clarification about a possible legal "impediment" regarding the disposal of the lands which had formed part of a city centre public park.
It emerged last week that they struck a deal to sell off part of the People's Park to enable a private development to go ahead nearly a year before planning permission was granted.
When the sale price was being agreed, the city council did not own all of the land at the People's Park, which it later sold to the same developer.
Correspondence between the planning department and solicitors acting for the city council, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, shows that officials had sought legal advice as far back as 2002 "in order that no impediment would arise regarding the disposal" of the land.
Limerick City Council has already dismissed suggestions that there was anything unusual in reaching agreement for a development with a private developer before planning permission was lodged or granted.
It also emerged yesterday that most of the councillors were not aware that officials had already agreed a price to sell the land to the developer more than two years before they formally ratified the sale.
Independent Councillor Jim Long, who first brought the controversy to light, has called for a full meeting of the city council to discuss issues arising from recent media coverage.
Other councillors have said they were supplied with "minimal" information when they were asked to endorse the disposal of the land to the developer.
The sale to Reidy Civil Engineering Ltd was only formally completed earlier this year after a section 183 motion was approved by councillors.
Construction of the 59-unit apartment complex and a mix of office/retail space was already at an advanced stage when the sale was finalised - some 18 months after planning permission was granted.
The five-storey block of luxury apartments is now completed and units are currently being furnished in the development known as The Park.
Correspondence between the city council and the developer showed that the local authority had agreed to sell a part of the public park as far back as 2002 to "facilitate" the private development even though it did not own it at the time.
The land was held in trust and was covered by the terms of a 500-year lease entered into by the Earl of Limerick, the People's Park Trustees and Limerick Corporation in the 19th century.
More than a year later, it formally purchased the land in the park from the trustees of the People's Park and the Earl of Limerick's estate for €150,000. It later sold this land in the park plus land it already held in the area, comprising .44 acre in total, to Reidy Civil Engineering Ltd for €1.57 million.
Mr Long has now called on the trustees of the People's Park to clarify whether they were aware that the land they sold to Limerick City Council would later be sold to a developer.
The city council has previously stated that there was nothing unusual in deciding not to put the sale of the .44 acre site to public tender.
Meanwhile, a slightly larger piece of land adjoining that purchased by Reidy raised €2.85 million when it was sold by the local authority to another developer on the open market.
City manager Tom Mackey said he was satisfied that the council had realised the full market value of the land and that the sale price agreed with Reidy Civil Engineering was arrived at on a "pro-rata" basis.
McInerney Construction Ltd has already been granted planning permission to build a 58-unit apartment complex and retail/ commercial space on the adjoining site. Construction is expected to get under way shortly.
Residents have expressed anger that they were not fully informed of the scale of the development in the People's Park. They say the land at the centre of the controversy was a gift to the people by the Earl of Limerick.
However, Limerick City Council said the site had been identified as far back as 1998 as one of many in the city suitable for urban renewal.