The Comptroller and Auditor General, the Government financial watchdog, examined the decision by the Office of Public Works to buy the site of the Battle of the Boyne for £7.5 million from Mr Neil McCann and his family. The C&AG's office reviewed the OPW documentation on the sale, which closed two weeks ago, according to documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.
The request to see the file followed revelations that the McCann's, who control Fyffes, stood to make a £5 million profit on the transaction. The family had purchased the 500-acre Oldbridge Estate in Co Meath for £2.7 million in late 1997. In January 1998, just over a month later, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr David Andrews, announced that the State planned to acquire the Battle of the Boyne site with a view to developing it "in order to promote reconciliation and mutual understanding". The most recent set of accounts available for Deep River Limited, the vehicle used by the McCanns, to acquire the property, valued the estate at £2.78 million. Deep River is a subsidiary of Balkan Investments one of the McCann family holding companies. The McCann's would appear to have borrowed to buy the the land as the company has debts of £2.58 million which are secured on the land, which is its only asset. Balkan Investments also owns just under 10 per cent of Fyffes, Europe's largest fresh produce company, which has a stockmarket value of €300 million. Mr McCann is chairman of the company while his son Carl is vice chairman. Another son, Mr David McCann, is chief executive.
The Oldbridge estate had previously been owned by a consortium of local businessmen which has tried unsuccessfully to develop a hotel and golf course on the site, which is the former home of the Anglo-Irish Coddington Family.
Both Mr Liam Lawlor, the TD and Mr Frank Dunlop, the public relations consultant had been involved with the previous scheme. Both men are being investigated by the Flood Tribunal for alleged irregularities regarding planning for unrelated developments. Mr Dunlop was involved in obtaining planning permission for the hotel complex while Mr Lawlor subsequently tried to interest developers in the project. Mr Lawlor and Mr Dunlop were not involved in the sale of the site to the McCanns. Documents released by the OPW show that in March this year the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General wrote to the OPW requesting the body to forward the file on the proposed purchase. No reason was given but the request followed the publication of the details of sale by the McCanns and also the previous attempts to develop it. An OPW spokeswoman claimed that it was not unusual for the C&AG office to look at substantial purchases by the body. She said that they had heard nothing further from the state auditor.
A spokesman for the C&AG office described the request as "routine" but would not comment further on the outcome of the review. An OPW source said yesterday that the publicity and controversy over the Oldbridge transaction would have led to it being reviewed by the C&AG. A spokesman for the McCann family declined to comment yesterday.
