Sir, - The statement by Fintan O'Toole (Irish Times, July 19th) that land at Glen Ding Wood in Blessington, Co Wicklow, was sold by the Department of Energy in 1990 "for a price less than that at which it had been valued by the Department" is factually incorrect.
At the time, an evaluation of the property, which comprised 58.6 hectares, by engineering and town planning consultants in association with minerals and environmental science consultants, was commissioned by the Department of Energy.
The price paid for the property by Roadstone Ltd was substantially in excess of the consultants' valuation, which was accepted by the Department and approved by me, as Minister for Energy, in December 1990.
Mr O'Toole went on to say that "the site had been identified as one of great historical and archaeological importance".
I would like to point out that the original site comprised a total of 72.9 hectares and contained a ring fort which the office of Public Works had identified as being an impressive monument strategically located with possible Viking associations. It was regarded by the Office of Public Works as one of the finest of its type in the country and they had requested it be transferred to them. The associated area of land required by the OPW was 14.22 hectares.
I agreed to this and the part of the site identified by the OPW as being of "historical and archaeological" importance was transferred to them and thus excluded from the sale.
My decision to accept the Roadstone offer to purchase these lands without planning permission was made on December 20th, 1990. - Yours, etc., ROBERT MOLLOY TD, Dail Eireann, Dublin 2.