£1/4 m land deal `not discussed with Taoiseach'

A friend of the Taoiseach who is reported to have earned £250,000 in a controversial land sale currently under investigation by the Flood tribunal has said he never discussed the deal with Mr Ahern.

Mr Tim Collins, a businessman who is one of the trustees of the Taoiseach's constituency office in Drumcondra, declined to comment on his involvement in the sale to the State of the historic site of the Battle of the Boyne.

But he said the deal was "squeaky clean". "I never discussed it with the Taoiseach," he added.

The Flood tribunal is investigating the purchase by the State of the Boyne site in Co Meath, which netted a consortium that included Mr Collins a windfall profit of over £5 million in two years. Mr Collins had an interest in Deepriver, a shelf company that owned a 500-acre estate, believed to be the site of the Battle of the Boyne, which was bought by the Office of Public Works for £7.7 million in December 1999.

Deepriver bought the Old bridge Estate in November 1997 for £2.7 million. Several weeks later, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, announced an initiative to look at developing the site as a gesture of reconciliation. The Taoiseach pressed to have the development of the site included in the Government's millennium programme, and the Millennium Committee subsequently made a £500,000 contribution to the project.

The main shareholders in Deepriver were the family of Mr Neil McCann, which controls Fyffes, the fruit distribution business. Mr Liam Moran, a solicitor based in Swords, negotiated the purchase of the site, and its sale to the OPW.

Mr Collins's name also emerged in the controversy over Quarryvale in west Dublin. He was present for the first meeting in 1988 between Mr Ahern and Mr Tom Gilmartin, the Luton-based developer who wanted to develop a huge shopping centre at Quarryvale.

Mr Collins told The Irish Times he had "nothing at all to do with Quarryvale". He did not even know where it was at the time. He said the 1988 meeting was the only time he met Mr Gilmartin.

Mr Collins (62) was appointed by the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, to the board of Enterprise Ireland in July 1998. The nomination was made at the behest of the Taoiseach, a spokesman for Ms Harney said last week.

A press release announcing the appointment of the new board described him as a director of Collins Consultancy Services, and as one who had held "a range of positions in sales and marketing".

Six months later, on January 24th, 1999, Mr Collins resigned, citing ill health. He left to have a hip operation. Three days after Mr Collins resigned, the Taoiseach for the first time identified him as the third man who was present when Mr Gilmartin met Mr Ahern. The Taoiseach told the Dail that he first met Mr Gilmartin in his constituency office in Drumcondra in October 1988 accompanied by "a local person".

Pressed by the Fine Gael leader, Mr Bruton, to identify the local person, Mr Ahern initially said he had no note of it nor did he recall. However, he added that he had been contacted by one of his "local supporters" who said he was present for the meeting. "The individual concerned is Mr Timothy Collins, who is a friend of mine," Mr Ahern said.

He said Mr Collins was present when Mr Gilmartin came in and was shown the developer's plans.

Mr Collins and Mr Moran have acted as property advisers for the McCann family in recent years. In 1995, Fyffes and Mr Moran were involved in the sale of a business park in Swords for about £4 million to the State agency, Forfas. The other shareholders included Mr Tony Lambert, a close associate of the former Fianna Fail minister, Mr Ray Burke.

Mr Collins is one of the trustees of St Luke's, a property in Drumcondra which has been used for constituency work and, for a time, accommodation. In the late 1980s, five businessmen and friends of the Taoiseach's purchased St Luke's for about £100,000.

Mr Collins told The Irish Times he was a "semi-retired" consultant who had worked in the building trade all his life.