The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, and the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, had contacts with representatives of Punchestown racecourse in the absence of officials, before the granting of €14.8 million for the construction of an events centre there.
The Secretary General of the Department of Agriculture, Mr John Malone, told the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that it was clear the Ministers had an interest in the project but that, "in fairness", he could not be asked to comment on matters that belonged in the political realm.
The involvement of Mr McCreevy and Mr Walsh with the operators of Punchestown, before any proposal for funding being received in the Department of Agriculture, emerged when the Comptroller & Auditor General, Mr John Purcell, intervened in the course of the PAC meeting.
Mr Purcell was very critical of the procedures followed in respect of the Punchestown grant in his most recent report. The State provided 100 per cent of the funds required to build the events centre. An original proposal for a €6.9 million event centre was approved by the Department of Agriculture in January 2000, just two months after the proposal was first submitted.
However, before the proposal approval was formally notified to Punchestown, the Department was told of a new proposal to build a more elaborate centre costing €12.8 million. This proposal was approved in June 2000.
While Mr Malone was answering questions from Mr Pat Rabbitte TD (Labour), Mr Purcell interrupted to say that the original letter from Punchestown to the Minister for Agriculture, proposing the development, "suggests that there was activity beforehand".
He said the letter from the chief executive of Punchestown included the phrases "following my meeting with your colleague, the Minister for Finance" and that Punchestown was "grateful for the support that the project has received to date from you and your colleague".
The meeting was told there was no documentation available to show the nature of these contacts between Punchestown and the two Ministers.
After Mr Purcell had spoken, Mr Rabbitte asked Mr Malone if it was the case that the Punchestown project "was agreed by the Ministers at the races before [the Department of Agriculture\] got the plans?" Mr Malone said: "I can't answer that."
Asked for his opinion, Mr Malone said it was clear "that the Ministers for Agriculture and Finance were aware of this".
Mr Michael Noonan TD (Fine Gael) said it was clear there were discussions with Ministers prior to the proposal being sent into the Department of Agriculture.
It was clear, he said, that there were contacts without civil servants being there.
He said that, as a former minister, he would have to say that the "speed with which the project was approved is quite simply amazing".
