BOXES OF planning files which had gone missing from Meath County Council have been located.
Gardaí in Navan had been asked last month to investigate the disappearance of the files which related to an incinerator being built in the county.
However, the seven boxes have now been found. It appears they had been with a firm contracted to scan documents on to computer records.
A council spokesman yesterday confirmed the files had been “recovered from a firm subcontracted to provide data back-up services. This company had inadvertently stored the file together with records from another planning authority.”
When the company realised it had the files, it contacted the council. In response to the incident, the council spokesman said: “The council is examining its internal controls and has directed that the subcontractor bring forward proposals to ensure that such an incident does not recur.”
However, Fine Gael TD Shane McEntee is not happy that the files were removed from the council’s offices.
“The fact is these files were taken out of the building and they should now be put on public display. They relate to an incinerator which has now been built and the public have a right to inspect the files to ensure that everything is being complied with,” he said.
The council has previously dismissed any suggestions that the incinerator, being constructed by Indaver Ireland, is in the wrong part of the site. It says it has inspected the site and “is satisfied that the current development at Carranstown is being constructed in accordance with the planning permission applied for”.
It has also said the files are available for public inspection.