The Moriarty tribunal has begun to inquire into aspects of the sale of 147 acres of land in Co Wicklow to Roadstone.
The land at Glen Ding, near Blessington, was sold to Roadstone in 1991 in circumstances later described by the Comptroller and Auditor General as "inappropriate".
Wicklow County Council subsequently zoned the land for quarrying and granted planning permission to Roadstone, but this was opposed by the Blessington Heritage Trust, which secured a High Court order overturning the rezoning in 1998.
A new proposal to rezone the land for quarrying is to come before the county council on Monday, a move which has already drawn criticism from locals, who claim that it is essentially the same plan as that overturned by the High Court in 1998.
Yesterday, An Taisce held a press conference at which it said that it and the Blessington Heritage Trust were considering taking judicial review proceedings against the Moriarty tribunal unless the tribunal investigated the sale.
However, it has now emerged that contact between the tribunal and the parties has already begun.
The tribunal is investigating the affairs of former Taoiseach Mr Charles Haughey, particularly in relation to his dealings with Mr Des Traynor, who was in charge of acquisitions at Cement Roadstone Holdings in 1991.
The sale of Glen Ding and the subsequent rezoning and granting of planning permission attracted criticism when it became known that no party other than Roadstone had been invited to bid for the land, although a number of other bodies had expressed interest.
At the time, the State was selling about 30 State forests, but Glen Ding was the only forest not to involve a public tender process.
In 1994, three years after the sale and before planning permission was granted, the High Court made an order preventing unauthorised quarrying by Roadstone at Glen Ding.
Following the council's subsequent rezoning and granting of planning permission, the High Court granted another order to the Blessington Heritage Trust overturning the rezoning.
An Bord Pleanála later overturned the council's decision to grant planning permission.
Yet another High Court order was granted to the then county council chairman, Mr Tommy Cullen, directing the then county manager to provide him with access to council files on the issue.
Last night, Roadstone issued a statement saying that it had acquired the land at Glen Ding in an "arm's-length transaction" and had paid a full price. "The sale and purchase has been investigated by the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Public Accounts Committee, and neither investigation found any evidence of any impropriety by the company."
The company repeated previous assertions that it would be happy to co-operate with any investigation by a competent body.
According to Mr Frank Corcoran, president of An Taisce, the proposal by the council to again rezone much of Glen Ding makes it urgent that the Moriarty tribunal investigate the sale and surrounding events.
Addressing a press conference in Dublin's Tailors' Hall yesterday, Mr Corcoran said the consequences of any delay in the tribunal's investigation could be serious for the survival of the archaeology of Glen Ding. There are two listed monuments on Glen Ding. One of them, known as "Sites and Monuments Record Number 11", is on the land which was sold to Roadstone.
The proposal contained in the current draft of the Blessington town plan would pave the way for quarrying to take place at the site, which is recognised as a fortified outpost for Mac Torcaill, the last Viking ruler of Dublin.
According to Mr Corcoran, the site was important as a hilltop defence, commanding views out over the plains of Leinster. It contained Bronze Age artefacts as well as the listed monuments.
At yesterday's press conference, Ms Deirdre de Burca, a Green Party member of Wicklow County Council, said that a large amount of illegally-dumped rubbish had been dumped on Roadstone land which adjoined Glen Ding. She said that the company had not provided satisfactory answers to the Oireachtas Committee on the Environment, citing a desire not to compromise the council's investigation. She would oppose Roadstone expanding its quarrying operations until the company had satisfactorily answered questions about the illegal dumps.
