Dublin Docklands Development Authority chairwoman Niamh Brennan raised concerns about a contract the authority signed for maintenance of its "public realm" at a board meeting in June, saying it "appears to have been very expensive".

She said it was expensive "(when compared with recent tenders received as part of the integrated property management tender) and further that the matter was exacerbated by allowing the free use of one of the authority's premises by this company".

Details of the minutes, which are from a board meeting on 8 June, were released to the Sunday Tribune under the Freedom of Information Act but the name of the company has been blanked out.

At the meeting the then DDDA chief executive Paul Maloney confirmed that the original contract had been awarded on a temporary basis following a tender process "pending the outcome of the integrated management tender".

The process was "terminated and arrangements put in place to organise a new public procurement tender which it was hoped would, in the current climate create considerable savings".

Meanwhile, the DDDA has drawn up a number of options in relation to its stake in the €412m Irish Glass Bottlers site in Poolbeg.

The site has dropped in value by 85% since it was purchased and at a board meeting in July it was decided that the draft options paper for "the Department is in preparation and will be reviewed by the Becbay sub-committee before being brought to the board".

Becbay was the vehicle used to acquire the site.