Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That should not have happened. Side-by-side with that, there was a site at Greenpark that the organisation had identified some years before. It was valued at approximately €2.2 million. The site was available at that price. The organisation ended up paying €3.4 million for that site. That occurred in June 2006.

The organisation did not nail things down. Clearly, proper preplanning was not done in respect of the purchase of that site, because once the organisation got on that site it did not nail down with the vendor that it should carry out the fill-in of the site in terms of parking. Then the organisation put in for planning for parking on the site that it did not own, only to be told by Limerick County Council that it would only allow for greyhound parking and that the vendor would be unable to use it for other activities. The vendor wanted to appeal the case to An Bord Pleanála but Bord na gCon was against the idea because it would delay the project. The vendor had Bord na gCon over a barrel.

Then Bord na gCon had an issue or problem with the type of filling being carried out. It appears that due to the absence of any proper form of planning Bord na gCon ended up spending €4 million more than it should have spent, at a minimum. A total of €1.6 million was spent on the site being written off in Meelick, €1.4 million went on costs incurred in respect of the site fill at Greenpark, something the vendor was supposed to do originally, and €1 million was spent on a call option held by the vendor with Bord na gCon whereby the vendor could call upon Bord na gCon to purchase the freehold. If proper preplanning had been carried out with Limerick County Council then, at a minimum, the organisation would have gone to the vendor and made the case that it would only buy the site if the vendor extended the site to include an area where Bord na gCon could get parking as well.

It appears the board has a reserve function in terms of capital acquisitions. Was the chief executive bypassing the board? Was there proper reference back to the board? Was it simply too loose?

For me, it is simple. Bord na gCon does great work in the dog and greyhound industry, which is of major importance. The Greenpark racecourse is a fantastic amenity in the city. I come from a county and I represent a portion of Clare where dogs are a major activity, but it is fair comment to say that fences were rushed and improper attention was paid in terms of due diligence prior to the purchase of the sites. Was Mr. Meaney on the board at the time?