The disappearance of a planning file containing the full history of the application and other documents for an apartment complex, the Steeples, built in the centre of Navan, Co Meath, in the mid-1990s, has been reported to gardaí.
The planning file disappeared from the Town Hall in Navan last week after a member of the public had come in and requested the desk staff to show it to him. Gardaí received a complaint, believed to be from Navan Town Council, that the man left the Town Hall taking the file with him.
The file has been described as "sensitive", as the gardaí, prior to the incident, had been investigationg a complaint about two land deals which took place in Navan in the mid-1990s, one of them the sale to a development company by the then Navan Urban Council of the site on which the Steeples was built.
The development company, Eracase, is co-owned by local auctioneers, Mr Raymond Potterton, and Mr Loman Dempsey, brother of Mr Noel Dempsey, the current Minister for Education.
As Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey referred the land sale to a senior official of his department for review, following a complaint to his department. The official concluded the council had acted within its remit in the purchase and that no public inquiry was warranted.
Gardaí are expected to take statements today from Town Hall staff who witnessed the incident involving the planning file.
Planning officials are concerned the removal of this file makes it a "contaminated" document since deletions or additions to the material could have been made while it was removed.
A source unconnected with Eracase told The Irish Times last night he had removed the file and copied it. He also said he had informed senior council officials that he had done so. He said he handed the file over to gardaí in Navan yesterday. The gardaí in Navan were unable to confirm this last night.