Údarás na Gaeltachta has cancelled the tender for sale of its holiday home complex in Connemara, following controversy over the bid accepted by its board.
The decision has been welcomed by Gael Linn, which had submitted an unsuccessful bid to the Gaeltacht development authority for the 13-house complex at Eanach Mheáin in Connemara. However, Gael Linn's chief executive, Mr Antoine Ó Coileáin, has described the tendering procedure as "ill-conceived, fatally flawed" and a "fiasco".
Údarás na Gaeltachta is now expected to carry out a detailed review of procedures in relation to sales of other properties it wishes to dispose of, to meet its budget deficit.
The row over the Eanach Mheáin tender arose when the third-highest bid for the complex was accepted - bypassing two higher bids made by a Dublin consortium and by Gael Linn.
The Dublin group, headed by an accountant, Mr Paul McKeon, had offered €1.95 million, while Gael Linn had offered €1.505 million - and had planned to develop the complex for Irish language educational purposes. Údarás management had recommended acceptance of the McKeon-led bid.
However, at the February board meeting held to discuss the final tenders, a western committee of the authority dominated by Fianna Fáil members recommended that the third-highest bid, for €1.45 million, be accepted and this was backed by the full board.
This tender was lodged by a group of four Connemara businessmen, including former Fianna Fáil senator and councillor, Mr Nioclás Ó Conchubhair. They proposed to upgrade the properties, built beside a golf course, to a four-star rating.
A report into the sale was ordered by the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr Ó Cuív, and the matter was revisited at yesterday's monthly Údarás board meeting in Waterville, Co Kerry, when a decision was taken to abandon the tender. It is understood that this decision was not unanimous.
The homes will be placed back on the market under tighter conditions for disposal of State property later this year.
In a statement issued after yesterday's meeting, the Gaeltacht development authority said that it did not have to accept the highest, or any bid, under the tender document conditions.
However, a "further issue" had arisen "because of the significant difference between the highest bid and the selected bid," it said.
"Where a State body proposes to sell an asset used for the purposes of a business activity (such as a holiday village) for less than the highest bid received, it is also obliged to consider whether or not any benefit which might accrue to the selected bidder would be compatible with the rules relating to State aid," the authority said.
Commenting on the decision, Gael Linn chief executive Mr Ó Coileáin said it appeared that "financial considerations were to the fore" and that "no verifiable evaluation was made of the language impact of the proposals submitted."
"In submitting our tender, Gael Linn's only reason was to present the strongest possible language-based business plan so as to offer the possibility of the holiday complex remaining in the ownership of a body whose aims mirrorred those of the Údarás."
However, he said it was preferable that the current tender be abandoned in the circumstances.
"The maintenance and development of Irish as the language of the Gaeltacht is the raison d'être of Údarás na Gaeltachta. Údarás should in no way be apologetic for insisting on appropriate language criteria in their awarding of a tender," Mr Ó Coileáin said.
He called on the Údarás to "learn from this fiasco".
