Desmond set limits on Aer Rianta bid

The then chairman of Aer Rianta, Dermot Desmond, instructed management at the company in the early 1990s that it should not offer more than agricultural prices for land near Dublin airport, which was bought by a business consortium for around £1 million, the tribunal was told.

The tribunal has heard that Aer Rianta considered the land purchased by the Cargobridge consortium to be essential for the future development of the airport.

Former Aer Rianta property manager at Dublin airport, Paul Pugh, said that the company had been told by advisers Lisney that it should offer £35,000 per acre for the land if it wanted to table a "knockout bid".

He said this advice had been sent up the line and that the instruction of the chairman of the board, Mr Desmond, was to tender a bid of £7,000 per acre.

"There was in the board's view no rationale for paying an inflated price as the land could not be developed commercially by any party," he said. He said that the view was that even if someone else paid more "we control the front door and we won't let them in". The Cargobridge consortium paid £1 million to a local farmer for the land.