Two of the key figures at the Flood tribunal stand to make several million pounds as a result of Fingal County Council's proposal to rezone land near Swords for residential development.
The 90 acres at Mountgorry is owned by Bovale Developments Ltd, the company controlled by brothers Mr Michael Bailey and Mr Tom Bailey. It was a letter written by Mr Michael Bailey that led to the establishment of the tribunal.
The site, to the east of Swords, has had a tortuous planning history dating back to the early 1970s when it was first acquired by the house-builders Brennan and McGowan. However, they failed to get permission to develop it and later sued for compensation.
In 1989, through Grange Developments, they received the largest single payment in Irish planning history when Mr George Redmond, then de facto Dublin county manager, signed a cheque for £1.9 million after the council was threatened with receivership.
In the early 1970s Mr Ray Burke was the sponsor of a motion to rezone the Mountgorry site for industry. The accounts of a Brennan and McGowan subsidiary, published in 1974, showed he had received a payment of £15,000 under the heading "planning". A subsequent Garda investigation resulted in no charges being brought against Mr Burke at the time.
Mr Douglas Hyde, Fingal's chief planning officer, said yesterday that housing would be a better option for the site than industry. However, he stressed that two swathes had been zoned as open space to reinforce the "visual break" between Swords and Malahide.
Mr Hyde also referred to the proposed development of the "north fringe" of Dublin city, as canvassed in last week's Bacon report, for up to 16,000 housing units. Some of this land, stretching from Ballymun to Baldoyle, is in the Fingal area.
The Bacon report suggested it might be developed on the basis of temporary sewage treatment arrangements pending completion of a major interceptor sewer. Swords will also be opened up to development by the upgrading of its treatment works.
Fingal County Council is bracing itself for a potential avalanche of submissions from landowners and property developers seeking to have their land rezoned for residential development. They fear that this could lead to a further "rezoning frenzy".
With next Friday as the deadline for making submissions on the draft Fingal county development plan, the planners are somewhat surprised that they have received only about 500 submissions, mostly petitioning against rezoning proposals.
Altogether 1,010 hectares (2,400 acres) of agricultural land is proposed for residential development, and a further 454 hectares (nearly 1,100 acres) for industry. A large mixed-use zone of 3,000 hectares (7,200 acres) is proposed for Dublin Airport.
The most contentious changes include a proposed rezoning of the former Phoenix Park racecourse for residential development. This would replace earlier plans to develop it for a conference centre, hotel, casino, stadium and other facilities.
The Phoenix Park Racecourse Preservation Society wants to see the racecourse reopened.
It was reported last year that Sonas Centre Ltd, the company which promoted the casino plan, had agreed to sell the racecourse to the housing developers Flynn and O'Flaherty for £37 million. If the rezoning is confirmed, they could build 1,500 homes there.
Objections are also being received from Baldoyle to the proposed rezoning of Baldoyle racecourse.
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