The Wicklow Fianna Fail TD, Mr Dick Roche, has repeated his call for an investigation by the Dail Public Accounts Committee into the State's disposal of land at Glen Ding Wood. He said the latest revelations in The Irish Times that Hudson Bros had shown an interest in the land prior to its sale to Roadstone meant there were now very serious questions about the Glen Ding sale.
"It is clear, for example, that in 1987 the then Minister for Forestry took the view quite correctly that if any land were to be sold in the area, it would have to be done by public tender competition. This has always been my personal contention. The question must arise, therefore, why in 1992 the land was sold without public tender competition."
Mr Roche said that in 1992 the Department of Energy must have known about the previous correspondence between Hudson Bros and the Department of Forestry.
He said the Department of Energy was also aware prior to the sale that there was a third buyer in the field. Armed with this information, the Department of Energy must have known that the best possible price for the State assets at Glen Ding, if they had to be sold, would be achieved by a public tender competition.