Colm Keena

Plannning permission for 840 apartments as well as office buildings and car parking for a site in Doncaster, England, is being sought by a trust associated with the family of Mr Denis O'Brien.

The development is proposed for the site of the Doncaster Rovers football stadium, with work to begin in 2005 after the team has been supplied with a new stadium in a less central location in the city.

The cost of the proposed development is not known but will be substantial. The site is next to the Doncaster racing track. Property prices in Doncaster have grown significantly in recent years.

The lease on the grounds currently used by the football team is owned by Doncaster Rovers Football Club Ltd, which was bought for £4 million (€5.8 million) in 1998 by an Isle of Man company, Westferry Ltd, which is believed to be controlled by an O'Brien family trust

The Moriarty tribunal has conducted inquiries into the fact that a letter to the former minister, Mr Michael Lowry, written by an English solicitor, Mr Christopher Vaughan, around the time the Doncaster sale was being negotiated, was written while Mr Vaughan was of the view that Mr Lowry was involved in the transaction.

Mr Vaughan was the solicitor handling the purchase for Westferry and was subsequently appointed to the board of Doncaster Rovers Football Club Ltd. He has since resigned.

He told The Irish Times last year that he was under a misapprehension at the time he wrote the letter to Mr Lowry.

A Dublin stockbroker and a Dublin accountant, Mr David Sykes, from Monkstown, Co Dublin, and Mr John Ryall, from Stillorgan, Co Dublin, were appointed to the company's board two years ago. Both men sit on the boards of a number of companies owned by Mr O'Brien. Mr O'Brien himself was appointed to the board in April 2003.

After The Irish Times first disclosed the existence of the letter from Mr Vaughan, a spokeswoman for Mr O'Brien said the Doncaster company had been bought by Mr O'Brien and that this would be shown to the tribunal.

At around the same time as the Doncaster deal, Mr Vaughan was also acting in relation to two other UK property deals. Mr Lowry was involved in these two deals.

All three deals involved Mr O'Brien's former accountant, Mr Aidan Phelan, and all have or are being examined by the tribunal. Mr Phelan, who was on the board of Doncaster with Mr Vaughan, resigned along with Mr Vaughan in 2002.

Unaudited financial statements for Doncaster Rovers Football Club Ltd for the year to May 31st, 2002, filed recently in Companies House in London, record the company as having made a loss of £36,213. This was entirely due to administrative expenses. The company's accumulated losses at the end of the year were £1 million and its fixed assets were valued at £426,019.