THE FORMER Minister of State at the Department of Finance Tom Parlon was involved in the background to the purchase of a €1.5 million site in Birr, Co Offaly, for a new headquarters for Fás.

Mr Parlon, who represented the Laois-Offaly constituency, had special responsibility for the decentralisation process but Fás was one of those agencies that handled the matter by itself.

A document, drafted in 2006 for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and seen by The Irish Times, outlines the background to the purchase of the site.

In a report earlier this week the Comptroller and Auditor General, John Buckley gave some details of the purchase. Fás originally offered €700,000 for the site, or €140,000 per acre, he said.

“The site was landlocked with the vendor entering into an agreement to provide land access within a specified time period after contract agreement.”

The vendor, the housing charity Respond!, rejected the initial offers from Fás and after protracted negotiations the Fás board, in December 2004, approved in principle the purchase of the site for €1.5 million, or almost twice the initial offer.

Eames solicitors, Dublin, acted for Fás in the matter, with William Fry, which normally conducts the bulk of Fás’s legal work, acting for Respond! The 2006 report on the negotiations was drawn up by Eames. It recorded how Fás instructed it to purchase the site in October 2005. What occured between December 2004 and October 2005 is not stated.

Soon after contact was made with Frys, issues arose concerning the construction of a road to the site. Discussions took place between both parties and with Offaly County Council.

In April 2006, the council “verbally agreed” to build a section of the Banagher road directly in front of the site. Contracts were subsequently signed by Fás and forwarded with a deposit to Frys.

However, difficulties developed in relation to the land owned by Respond! on which it was to allow the road be built. In November, Respond! returned the deposit and said it would not be going ahead with the deal. The charity now believed the council could not commit to building the road.

The site in which Fás had an interest was part of a larger site owned by Respond! and on which it wanted to build social housing but could not get councillor support. It decided in November 2006 to sell all the site to local developer Finbarr McLoughlin.

Mr Parlon attended a meeting in the offices of William Fry on November 10th at which it was made clear that Fás was not mandated to purchase land to build a road. “The site that had been located for Fás was a stranded and land-locked site,” the Eames note reads.

The meeting heard that Mr McLoughlin was aware of the discussions between Fás and Respond! and was willing to deal with Fás on the same terms Fás had negotiated with Respond!

Auctioneer Tadgh Campion, who was also in attendance, said Mr McLoughlin would make two planning applications for the land, one for a road and one for his intended housing development.

“Minister Parlon left the meeting and made a telephone call to the county manager of Offaly County Council. He returned to the meeting and said that, if such a planning application was made by the developer in respect of the road, the council would use ‘its best endeavours’ to” expedite matters, the note read.

According to the note it was agreed that Respond! would sell to the developer with Fás entering into an option agreement to purchase the site, with access, from the developer.

On November 13th, lawyers for the council wrote to say no commitment had been made in relation to planning.

On the 16th, Frys formally offered the site and road to Fás for sale. The next day in a meeting in the Fás headquarters, Eames was instructed to purchase only the site from the developer by way of an option agreement exercisable within three months.

It is understood the land was subsequently sold to Mr McLaughlin and that portion of the site which Fás was interested in was sold on to Fás for the previously agreed price. The site remains landlocked and its current value is not known.

In December 2006 Fás entered into an agreement over offices in Birr it subsequently leased for 10 years.