OPW `outbid' voluntary body

The Irish Society for Autism was in the process of buying a property, Ionad Follain, in Myshall, Co Carlow, as a centre for autism, when the OPW "moved in" and outbid the society by more than €300,000 to buy the building to house asylum-seekers. Mr John Browne (FG, Carlow-Kilkenny) appealed in the Dail last night for the Department of Justice to "step back from outbidding a voluntary body". He added that if a contract had been signed, the Department of Justice should hand the building over to the Irish Society for Autism "who cannot compete with a department flush with money". The Minister of State for Finance, Mr Martin Cullen, said the society did not advise the OPW "directly at any time of their interest in the property prior to the conclusion of the sale negotiations".