In articles in The Irish Times on July 25th, 1997 and August 8th, 1997 which concerned payments allegedly made to Mr Ray Burke and his involvement in the planning process, we mentioned Mr Michael Cooke, who had been appointed as a member of An Bord Pleanala in June 1981. It was alleged that Mr Cooke had been a by-law inspector in Dublin County Council and a former quantity surveyor with Brennan & McGowan, a house building firm.
This statement was untrue. Mr Cooke never worked with Brennan & McGowan. At the time of his appointment to An Bord Pleanala, he was a Senior Executive Engineer with Dublin County Council, had wide experience of local authority planning work and was fully qualified for his appointment to An Bord Pleanala. A similar mistake had been made by The Irish Times in June 1983 and a statement of regret for the untrue nature of those statements was published in 1983. The error ought not to have been made again.
The Irish Times regrets the error that occurred and apologises to Mr Cooke for the embarrassment and distress caused to him.