Wicklow county councillors will today vote on the draft Coun ty Development Plan, which will include the rezoning of Glen Ding Wood for quarrying by Roadstone Dublin Ltd.
Last year, the Blessington Development Plan, under which Glen Ding was rezoned, was overturned by the High Court and An Bord Pleanala refused planning planning permission for quarrying. However, the land is included in a proposed "western corridor" which would facilitate future development in the Blessington area.
The meeting comes three days after a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr John Purcell, concluded that the sale of the State-owned property by the Department of Energy had not been conducted "in an appropriate manner". Other interested parties should also have been gi ven an opportunity to bid for the property, according to the report.
Roadstone Dublin Ltd, a subsidiary of CRH, of which the late Mr Des Traynor was chairman, bought the land by private treaty for £1.25 million in 1992, but has so far been unable to quarry there. Mr Traynor was the personal financier of Mr Charles Haughey, who was Taoiseach at the time. Other quarrying companies have estimated the value of the sand and gravel reserves at Glen Ding at about £60 million, after processing costs, a claim Road stone has denied consistently. A spokesman for Roadstone said last night that it welcomed the CAG's report. "It independently confirmed the company's contention that it acted ethically and professionally in all its dealings with the Department during the purchase process," he said. A rival quarrying company, Hudson Brothers, had made an earlier approach to the Department of Energy about buying the land, but was told it was not for sale and could be sold only by public tender.
Fianna Fail TD Mr Dick Roche said he would strongly oppose the motion by the county manager, Mr Blaise Treacy, to include land at Glen Ding in the western corridor proposed under the revised County Development Plan.
He also demanded a full explanation of the involvement of Wicklow County Council in the decision by the Department of Energy to appoint planning consultant Mr Kiaran O'Malley to advise it on the sale of Glen Ding.
The CAG's report said: "A file note in August 1988 states that the Department `should call in for discussion the consultant as advised by Wicklow County Council and make a start in obtaining outline planning permission'."
Since the sale, it has emerged that Mr O'Malley had previously carried out work for Roadstone.
This showed "a disturbing level of involvement by Wicklow County Council in the background to this", Mr Roche said. The former council chairman, Mr Tommy Cullen, had taken a High Court action to obtain access to council documents relating to Glen Ding.
"I will be raising the question as to precisely what the nature of the contact was between Wicklow County Council and the Department of Energy in 1988," Mr Roche said. "It seems to me that there has been a reluctance to face all the facts in relation to this and the way this has been handled, both locally and nationally, has been absolutely unacceptable."
Mr Cullen, a Labour councillor in Wicklow, is to seek a suspension of standing orders at today's meeting to allow for a discussion about the role played by the council in the appointment of Mr O'Malley as a consultant. "I want to know whether Wicklow County Council did advise the Department of Energy to appoint this consultant, because when I raised this before, I was told that the council had no involvement in his appointment." Mr Cullen said the proposed creation of the western corridor under draft County Development Plan, which includes Glen Ding wood, "flies in the face of the An Bord Pleanala decision". The council seemed "determined" to have the forest rezoned, he said.
Last year, the Blessington Heritage Trust won a High Court action in which it challenged the validity of the Blessington Development Plan, which included the rezoning of Glen Ding. Mr Frank Corcoran, the trust's chairman, said yesterday that despite many recent submissions opposing the proposed rezoning, "it seems no matter what happens, Wicklow County Council is determined to facilitate Roadstone in quarrying this land".