A letter from the developer and major Fianna Fail donor, Mr Owen O'Callaghan, objecting to Government plans to limit the size of supermarkets, was omitted from documentation on the subject released to the Irish Examiner earlier this week under the Freedom of Information Act.
The letter was sent to the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, just a day before he issued a directive capping the size of new supermarket developments at 3,000 square metres net. This was a much stricter limit than that sought by Mr O'Callaghan but planners see it as more favourable to him than the limit planned by the Minister six days earlier.
The omitted letter shows that both Mr O'Callaghan and his public affairs consultant, Mr Frank Dunlop, lobbied Mr Dempsey and the Taoiseach intensely on the matter after a Cabinet member leaked details of Mr Dempsey's proposal to a client of Mr Dunlop.
The Department of the Environment insisted yesterday the retention of this politically sensitive correspondence was due to an error and not deliberate.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, the Department was legally bound to release it.
A Department spokesman said the letter, one of several representations on the subject, had been misfiled. It was discovered an hour after a query from The Irish Times concerning representations received on the matter. The Department of the Environment spokesman said yesterday this was coincidental.
The letter was sent amid intense discussions among officials and at Cabinet over how to prevent superstores outside towns from damaging small town centre retailers. Following lobbying by the small grocers' association, RGDATA, Mr Dempsey had told the Cabinet on May 26th he planned to limit the size of new supermarkets to 3,250 square metres gross (including sales and storage space). A week later, on June 3rd, he told the Cabinet he was proposing a higher figure of 3,500 square metres gross.
Mr Dunlop sent a memo to Mr Dempsey opposing the plan to his home the following day and sent a copy of this to the Taoiseach's constituency office at St Luke's, Drumcondra. In this memo, already released under the Freedom of Information Act, Mr Dunlop said a Cabinet Minister had leaked details of the Minister's intentions to a client of his almost immediately after the Cabinet was told.
A spokesman for Mr O'Callaghan said last night that it was Mr Dunlop who had told Mr O'Callaghan of the Government's plan. He denied that Mr O'Callaghan had received information from any Minister.
The Taoiseach's spokesman has rejected suggestions that he leaked any information.
Mr O'Callaghan handwrote a letter on Saturday, June 6th, to Mr Dempsey protesting at his plan. He suggested a cap of 3,500 square metres net, equivalent to 4,000 to 4,550 square metres gross.
This letter was faxed to Mr Dempsey, with a copy to the Taoiseach, from Mr Dunlop's office early the following Monday. The following day, the Minister announced his directive, which capped new developments at 3,000 square metres net.