Flood to present report on Trim hotel

The first report of the Centre for Public Inquiry - the privately funded investigative vehicle chaired by former High Court Judge Feargus Flood - is to be launched this morning.

The report focuses on the development of a 68 bedroom modern hotel with a 400 seat function room and car parking adjacent to the famous Anglo-Norman King John's Castle, in Trim, Co Meath.

Mr Justice Flood who also served as the first chairman of the Planning and Payments Tribunal, will present the report to the chairman of Meath County Council, Brian Fitzgerald, at Trim Castle.

Detailing the background to the disposal of the hotel site to a private developers David and Lynda O'Brien's D O'Brien Developments Ltd in October 2002, the report ties together much of what is in the public domain and reveals that the EU Commission is investigating whether Trim Town Council carried out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), or screened the project to establish whether an EIA was required.

The report also alleges that a number of the current and former members of the local authority feel they were advised "against their better judgment" by council staff to agree to sell the land, which had been earmarked for a public car park.

The report is also highly critical of former minister for the environment Martin Cullen who was advised that Dúchas, the department's heritage section, consistently expressed concern regarding the scale of the hotel, which was described as insensitive to a national monument in the State's Care. But the minister recommended only that the development be scaled back and this morning's report claims that "as a result of the instructions from the minister's office no objection was submitted by the department or Dúchas officials to the planning application".

Following the grant of planning permission, the report claims, two officials from the department prepared an objection but "an intervention by the minister's office put a halt to these efforts to lodge an appeal".

It is also alleged that an agreement was made between Dúchas and the local council for the site to be converted into a car park and Dúchas contributed €63,000 for this.

However, the council decided to rezone the land and failed to inform members of the arrangement with Dúchas.

The Department of the Environment has since asked Trim Town Council to return the money and the council has indicated that it intends to do so.

Executive director of the Centre for Public Inquiry, Frank Connolly, said the report also showed the developer of the hotel was informed by letter that his proposal for the site had been selected as the most suitable "weeks before the elected council were told". According to Mr Connolly, councillors told the Centre for Public Inquiry that this factor "removed the council's reserved function/right in relation to the proposed proposal".