The final report of the Mahon tribunal into planning matters is expected within three months, a spokesman for the Minister for the Environment has indicated.
“The Minister is anxious to see it published as soon as possible and hopefully it will be out before the end of the year,” the spokesman said yesterday.
The tribunal was established in 1997 and has held more than 900 days of public sittings. It is expected to be critical of former taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Showing posts with label mahon tribunal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mahon tribunal. Show all posts
Sunday, 25 September 2011
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Mahon tribunal ends 11 years of hearings
THE CHAIRMAN of the Mahon tribunal, Judge Alan Mahon, thanked witnesses, their legal representatives, tribunal staff, members of the public who attended its hearings, and the journalists who regularly covered its proceedings, at the outset of what was effectively the tribunal's final day of hearing evidence yesterday.
The tribunal has held 916 days of public hearings into allegations of planning corruption over the past 11 years. It is expected to cost the exchequer in excess of €300 million when third-party legal costs are submitted following the publication of its final report some time next year.
Only two members of the public attended yesterday's sitting, which was held so certain evidence could be read into the public record.
There is a chance a further, short hearing may be heard, Judge Mahon said.
Judge Mahon, who took over as chairman of the tribunal from its original chairman, Mr Justice Feargus Flood, said the tribunal had since 2002 heard evidence from more than 400 witnesses, producing more than 60,000 pages of transcripted evidence.
He said more than 76,000 pages of documents had been circulated in briefs to interested parties.
The tribunal heard from Patricia Dillon SC, for the tribunal, that the son of the late Liam Lawlor, Niall Lawlor, had told the tribunal he would not be travelling from the US to give evidence. The tribunal also heard that the late Mr Lawlor's wife, Hazel Lawlor, would not be giving evidence as she was not in a position to do so, for medical reasons.
Pat Quinn SC, for the tribunal, read documentation associated with the late Mr Lawlor into the record. It included a statement from Mr Lawlor to the effect that he received £30,000 in political contributions from Declan Ganley's business, Ganley International, in 1996.
Mr Quinn also said the tribunal had been told that an invoice dated February 1997 from Mr Ganley's business at 128 Mount Street, London, was used by Mr Lawlor when providing documentation to cover for a £25,000 payment to him from the former lobbyist and Fianna Fáil election agent, Frank Dunlop.
The cheque for that amount and made out to Ganley International, was lodged by an associate of Mr Lawlor's, Patrick Murphy to an account in his name in Lucan, Dublin, and the proceeds given to Mr Lawlor over time.
Evidence taken on commission from the long-time associate of former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Tim Collins, was read into the record by the tribunal registrar, Peter Kavanagh. Mr Collins's evidence was given in private, or on commission, for medical reasons. He attended Dublin Castle on October 9th, along with his counsel Hugh Mohan SC.
Mr Collins was questioned about his involvement in the purchase of land at Cloghran, Co Dublin, by John Butler, Tom Williams and Niall Kenny in 1989. The land was bought for £165,000 and Mr Collins said he was paid a finder's fee in 1996 of £29,613. Mr Collins said he used to drive around looking for property that might be of interest to clients.
"I drove into the yard and I asked the chap in the yard" if the land was up for sale, he said.
Mr Collins said he introduced lobbyist Frank Dunlop to the purchasers of the land during a chance meeting in the offices of the architect, Ambrose Kelly, in 1993. Told that Mr Dunlop had said he made it clear at the meeting that councillors would have to be paid if the land at Cloughran was to be rezoned, Mr Collins replied: "That's a lie."
He said Mr Dunlop's contribution was "public relations". The land was rezoned and sold at a substantial profit.
The tribunal adjourned and its public proceedings may now be complete.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The tribunal has held 916 days of public hearings into allegations of planning corruption over the past 11 years. It is expected to cost the exchequer in excess of €300 million when third-party legal costs are submitted following the publication of its final report some time next year.
Only two members of the public attended yesterday's sitting, which was held so certain evidence could be read into the public record.
There is a chance a further, short hearing may be heard, Judge Mahon said.
Judge Mahon, who took over as chairman of the tribunal from its original chairman, Mr Justice Feargus Flood, said the tribunal had since 2002 heard evidence from more than 400 witnesses, producing more than 60,000 pages of transcripted evidence.
He said more than 76,000 pages of documents had been circulated in briefs to interested parties.
The tribunal heard from Patricia Dillon SC, for the tribunal, that the son of the late Liam Lawlor, Niall Lawlor, had told the tribunal he would not be travelling from the US to give evidence. The tribunal also heard that the late Mr Lawlor's wife, Hazel Lawlor, would not be giving evidence as she was not in a position to do so, for medical reasons.
Pat Quinn SC, for the tribunal, read documentation associated with the late Mr Lawlor into the record. It included a statement from Mr Lawlor to the effect that he received £30,000 in political contributions from Declan Ganley's business, Ganley International, in 1996.
Mr Quinn also said the tribunal had been told that an invoice dated February 1997 from Mr Ganley's business at 128 Mount Street, London, was used by Mr Lawlor when providing documentation to cover for a £25,000 payment to him from the former lobbyist and Fianna Fáil election agent, Frank Dunlop.
The cheque for that amount and made out to Ganley International, was lodged by an associate of Mr Lawlor's, Patrick Murphy to an account in his name in Lucan, Dublin, and the proceeds given to Mr Lawlor over time.
Evidence taken on commission from the long-time associate of former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Tim Collins, was read into the record by the tribunal registrar, Peter Kavanagh. Mr Collins's evidence was given in private, or on commission, for medical reasons. He attended Dublin Castle on October 9th, along with his counsel Hugh Mohan SC.
Mr Collins was questioned about his involvement in the purchase of land at Cloghran, Co Dublin, by John Butler, Tom Williams and Niall Kenny in 1989. The land was bought for £165,000 and Mr Collins said he was paid a finder's fee in 1996 of £29,613. Mr Collins said he used to drive around looking for property that might be of interest to clients.
"I drove into the yard and I asked the chap in the yard" if the land was up for sale, he said.
Mr Collins said he introduced lobbyist Frank Dunlop to the purchasers of the land during a chance meeting in the offices of the architect, Ambrose Kelly, in 1993. Told that Mr Dunlop had said he made it clear at the meeting that councillors would have to be paid if the land at Cloughran was to be rezoned, Mr Collins replied: "That's a lie."
He said Mr Dunlop's contribution was "public relations". The land was rezoned and sold at a substantial profit.
The tribunal adjourned and its public proceedings may now be complete.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Wednesday, 7 November 2007
Dunlop took references to Ahern out of his diaries
Whistleblower Frank Dunlop altered his diaries to remove references to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and his FF predecessor, Albert Reynolds, it has emerged.
He also scrubbed out entries relating to former Environment Minister Padraig Flynn and to former Sports Minister Liam Aylward.
The former lobbyist, who promised to spill the beans on corruption in the planning process in Dublin by naming those he said he bribed to get land rezoned, said he couldn't give any reason for his decision to alter his diaries.
Conceal
He did not deliberately conceal the information, he omitted it, he told the planning probe.
But, tribunal judge Gerald Keys rounded on the lobbyist, saying that his answers to these crucial questions didn't make sense and went to the heart of his credibility in a large way.
"I find it very difficult to accept your answers, they don't make sense," Judge Keys added.
The diaries, which Mr Dunlop relies on as part of the "roadmap" of planning decisions, and politicians and business people he met in his career as a lobbyist for developers, were changed after Mr Dunlop had undertaken to fully co-operate with the planning probe.
Mr Dunlop said he couldn't explain why he had taken out references to senior politicians or to "the big one", which he now says relates to a IR£500,000 success fee he was to get from developer Owen O'Callaghan for lifting the cap on the size of Quarryvale.
Yesterday, he told the tribunal he had no idea when he wiped out at least four references to the "big one" after he had agreed to fully co-operate with the planning probe.
He agreed with tribunal counsel Patricia Dillon SC that his decision to remove the references to Mr O'Callaghan and "the big one" was one which he made consciously.
On December 10, 1993, Quarryvale was successfully confirmed by the Co Council and three days later Mr Dunlop wrote in his diary, "discussion re Big One, when if deal comes through, 'private' deal when, leave to FD".
This entry, however, did not appear in the redacted diary which he provided to the tribunal, but he couldn't say now why he wanted to keep this information from the tribunal.
"You excluded it because you did not want the tribunal to know about it," said tribunal chairman, Judge Alan Mahon.
In relation to the senior politicians, Mr Dunlop said that he did not make a decision to exclude the reference to the senior politicians from the edited diaries he provided to the tribunal.
"I never in my life spoke to Bertie Ahern in relation to Quarryvale, except to ask him, as Taoiseach, to perform the official opening of Quarryvale," he added.
Stadium
Mr Dunlop said he hadn't spoken to either Mr Flynn or Mr Reynolds about Quarryvale, although he had spoken to two of the politicians about the proposed National Stadium.
Asked if the reference to "the big one" could be to do with the Stadium, rather than a success fee for the lifting of the cap on Quarryvale, Mr Dunlop said he was loathe to say this was the case.
He did have discussions with Mr O'Callaghan, architect Ambrose Kelly and Liam Lawlor about the stadium.
He said that he couldn't explain either why he had removed several references from his diaries to the late Liam Lawlor.
He had always told the tribunal that Mr Lawlor was heavily involved with Quarryvale.
Lorna Reid
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
He also scrubbed out entries relating to former Environment Minister Padraig Flynn and to former Sports Minister Liam Aylward.
The former lobbyist, who promised to spill the beans on corruption in the planning process in Dublin by naming those he said he bribed to get land rezoned, said he couldn't give any reason for his decision to alter his diaries.
Conceal
He did not deliberately conceal the information, he omitted it, he told the planning probe.
But, tribunal judge Gerald Keys rounded on the lobbyist, saying that his answers to these crucial questions didn't make sense and went to the heart of his credibility in a large way.
"I find it very difficult to accept your answers, they don't make sense," Judge Keys added.
The diaries, which Mr Dunlop relies on as part of the "roadmap" of planning decisions, and politicians and business people he met in his career as a lobbyist for developers, were changed after Mr Dunlop had undertaken to fully co-operate with the planning probe.
Mr Dunlop said he couldn't explain why he had taken out references to senior politicians or to "the big one", which he now says relates to a IR£500,000 success fee he was to get from developer Owen O'Callaghan for lifting the cap on the size of Quarryvale.
Yesterday, he told the tribunal he had no idea when he wiped out at least four references to the "big one" after he had agreed to fully co-operate with the planning probe.
He agreed with tribunal counsel Patricia Dillon SC that his decision to remove the references to Mr O'Callaghan and "the big one" was one which he made consciously.
On December 10, 1993, Quarryvale was successfully confirmed by the Co Council and three days later Mr Dunlop wrote in his diary, "discussion re Big One, when if deal comes through, 'private' deal when, leave to FD".
This entry, however, did not appear in the redacted diary which he provided to the tribunal, but he couldn't say now why he wanted to keep this information from the tribunal.
"You excluded it because you did not want the tribunal to know about it," said tribunal chairman, Judge Alan Mahon.
In relation to the senior politicians, Mr Dunlop said that he did not make a decision to exclude the reference to the senior politicians from the edited diaries he provided to the tribunal.
"I never in my life spoke to Bertie Ahern in relation to Quarryvale, except to ask him, as Taoiseach, to perform the official opening of Quarryvale," he added.
Stadium
Mr Dunlop said he hadn't spoken to either Mr Flynn or Mr Reynolds about Quarryvale, although he had spoken to two of the politicians about the proposed National Stadium.
Asked if the reference to "the big one" could be to do with the Stadium, rather than a success fee for the lifting of the cap on Quarryvale, Mr Dunlop said he was loathe to say this was the case.
He did have discussions with Mr O'Callaghan, architect Ambrose Kelly and Liam Lawlor about the stadium.
He said that he couldn't explain either why he had removed several references from his diaries to the late Liam Lawlor.
He had always told the tribunal that Mr Lawlor was heavily involved with Quarryvale.
Lorna Reid
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Thursday, 27 September 2007
Dunlop had 'ready access' to ministers
Frank Dunlop had ready access to Government ministers and was able to arrange meetings with them for his clients.
Yesterday Mr Dunlop said his contacts were across the political divide, but he had no recollection of ever meeting former Environment Minister Padraig Flynn in relation to either the Blanchardstown Shopping Centre or the proposed development at Quarryvale.
Mr Dunlop said he worked for John Corcoran of Green Properties, the developers of Blanchardstown.
Mr Corcoran was anxious to get tax designation for Blanchardstown and had asked the late Brian Lenihan about it.
"I recall Mr Lenihan, prior to a Cabinet meeting, raising the tax designation issue with the Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, but Mr Haughey's response was extremely negative," he said.
"I was told by Liam Lawlor who was told by Ray Burke that Mr Haughey's reply was 'Brian, not today, not tomorrow not (expletive) ever.'"
Mr Dunlop added that Mr Corcoran was concerned that a rival development at Quarryvale would impact on his plans for Blanchardstown. Mr Corcoran wanted to get the tax designation before proceeding to develop the shopping centre.
The former lobbyist told the Mahon Tribunal that it was the late Liam Lawlor who told him to contact Tom Gilmartin and offer his lobbying services for the Quarryvale project.
He wrote to Mr Gilmartin and enclosed press cuttings which dealt with allegations of corruption in the planning process in Dublin.
Relationship
He knew it was Mr Gilmartin who had made these allegations and agreed with tribunal counsel, Patricia Dillon SC, that a person who made such allegations was unlikely to be involved in corrupt practices himself.
Mr Dunlop said Mr Corcoran was not "best pleased" when he found out that Mr Dunlop had gone to work for Owen O'Callaghan who was then involved in Quarryvale.
His business relationship with Mr Corcorcan had ended rather abruptly around August 1990. He began working for Mr O'Callaghan in 1991.
Mr Dunlop said he made his first corrupt payment in 1991.
Irish Independent
Yesterday Mr Dunlop said his contacts were across the political divide, but he had no recollection of ever meeting former Environment Minister Padraig Flynn in relation to either the Blanchardstown Shopping Centre or the proposed development at Quarryvale.
Mr Dunlop said he worked for John Corcoran of Green Properties, the developers of Blanchardstown.
Mr Corcoran was anxious to get tax designation for Blanchardstown and had asked the late Brian Lenihan about it.
"I recall Mr Lenihan, prior to a Cabinet meeting, raising the tax designation issue with the Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, but Mr Haughey's response was extremely negative," he said.
"I was told by Liam Lawlor who was told by Ray Burke that Mr Haughey's reply was 'Brian, not today, not tomorrow not (expletive) ever.'"
Mr Dunlop added that Mr Corcoran was concerned that a rival development at Quarryvale would impact on his plans for Blanchardstown. Mr Corcoran wanted to get the tax designation before proceeding to develop the shopping centre.
The former lobbyist told the Mahon Tribunal that it was the late Liam Lawlor who told him to contact Tom Gilmartin and offer his lobbying services for the Quarryvale project.
He wrote to Mr Gilmartin and enclosed press cuttings which dealt with allegations of corruption in the planning process in Dublin.
Relationship
He knew it was Mr Gilmartin who had made these allegations and agreed with tribunal counsel, Patricia Dillon SC, that a person who made such allegations was unlikely to be involved in corrupt practices himself.
Mr Dunlop said Mr Corcoran was not "best pleased" when he found out that Mr Dunlop had gone to work for Owen O'Callaghan who was then involved in Quarryvale.
His business relationship with Mr Corcorcan had ended rather abruptly around August 1990. He began working for Mr O'Callaghan in 1991.
Mr Dunlop said he made his first corrupt payment in 1991.
Irish Independent
Thursday, 26 July 2007
Taoiseach knew of 'games' over developments, says Gilmartin
BERTIE Ahern was well aware of the "games" that were going on about developments in Dublin in the late 1980s, the Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday.
But the Taoiseach, who will be called to give evidence in person to the tribunal in September, was the only politician developer Tom Gilmartin said he could trust.
Although he gave a £50,000 donation to Fianna Fail, Mr Gilmartin said he would have been prepared to pay £500,000 to extract himself from the corruption which was going on.
"What favour did I get for my £50,000? I got myself bankrupted and destroyed," he said.
"It cost me, boy did it cost me. Your client (Owen O'Callaghan) was a far better hand at it," Mr Gilmartin told Paul Sreenan, SC.
"You can go on and on until hell freezes over trying to associate me with bribery and corruption, but you will not because I didn't bribe anyone," he added.
Mr Gilmartin said former government press secretary Frank Dunlop was paid to run a ring of corruption, "of which Liam Lawlor was only one".
"I would have been quite happy to pay £500,000 to get my money back and get out of the country.
"I would have been happy going up the road, I would be laughing all the way to the bank," Mr Gilmartin said.
He said he had complained to both Bertie Ahern and Padraig Flynn about what was happening as he tried to put his plans for the development of Quarryvale, now the Liffey Valley Shopping centre, into action.
LORNA REID
Irish Independent
But the Taoiseach, who will be called to give evidence in person to the tribunal in September, was the only politician developer Tom Gilmartin said he could trust.
Although he gave a £50,000 donation to Fianna Fail, Mr Gilmartin said he would have been prepared to pay £500,000 to extract himself from the corruption which was going on.
"What favour did I get for my £50,000? I got myself bankrupted and destroyed," he said.
"It cost me, boy did it cost me. Your client (Owen O'Callaghan) was a far better hand at it," Mr Gilmartin told Paul Sreenan, SC.
"You can go on and on until hell freezes over trying to associate me with bribery and corruption, but you will not because I didn't bribe anyone," he added.
Mr Gilmartin said former government press secretary Frank Dunlop was paid to run a ring of corruption, "of which Liam Lawlor was only one".
"I would have been quite happy to pay £500,000 to get my money back and get out of the country.
"I would have been happy going up the road, I would be laughing all the way to the bank," Mr Gilmartin said.
He said he had complained to both Bertie Ahern and Padraig Flynn about what was happening as he tried to put his plans for the development of Quarryvale, now the Liffey Valley Shopping centre, into action.
LORNA REID
Irish Independent
Friday, 6 July 2007
Burton taken aback by zoning decisions
LABOUR TD Joan Burton believed “something improper” was going on between developers and some of her Dublin County Council colleagues in the early 1990s, she told the Mahon Tribunal yesterday.
“I was taken aback at what I experienced,” said Ms Burton, recalling some of the zoning decisions taken and the atmosphere in the chamber and its environs.
Elected to the council for the first time in June 1991, she resigned her seat in January 1993 on being appointed a minister of state in the Department of Social Welfare.
Lobbyist and former Fianna Fáil government press secretary Frank Dunlop alleges he made corrupt payments totalling nearly £225,000 to 14 politicians to secure the rezoning of the Quarryvale lands now being probed by the tribunal.
Ms Burton said she had had no knowledge that Mr Dunlop was paying councillors. Initially, she would have regarded him with “the highest of esteem”.
Ms Burton said she had lived in Tanzania in the mid-1980s when the east African country was in the grip of corruption. If she applied the same standards with her experiences in the council, she would have felt something improper was going on.
“When a vote was won — in the sense that a zoning vote was successful — there was very often a celebratory atmosphere,” she said.
Ms Burton said she also noted a “too-close relationship” between councillors on the one hand and developers, their agents and lobbyists on the other.
She agreed with tribunal lawyer Patricia Dillon SC that a possible explanation was that money was changing hands.
Earlier, developer Tom Gilmartin agreed he had signed off accounts as a director of Barkhill, the company linked to the Quarryvale project, although there were no supporting invoices for £80,000 paid to Mr Dunlop.
Barkhill made three separate payments in May and June 1991, to Mr Dunlop’s company Shefran, which a handwritten note described as being in connection with the elections of that year.
The tribunal heard how Barkhill was the vehicle used by Mr Gilmartin to initiate the West Dublin project, but the developer claimed he was forced to hand over control of the company when he got into financial difficulties.
“I was never told what Shefran was,” he said.
Asked why he put his name to the audited accounts, Mr Gilmartin said, by the time payments were made, Barkhill “was out of my hands” and being run by his former business partner Owen O’Callaghan and AIB bank.
The audited accounts related to the period ended April 1992. Asked by tribunal lawyer Pat Quinn SC if he had accepted the books adequately reflected the position, Mr Gilmartin said at the time he couldn’t care less. “I had no input; I had no say in Barkhill... I was falsely (made) bankrupt.”
Irish Examiner
“I was taken aback at what I experienced,” said Ms Burton, recalling some of the zoning decisions taken and the atmosphere in the chamber and its environs.
Elected to the council for the first time in June 1991, she resigned her seat in January 1993 on being appointed a minister of state in the Department of Social Welfare.
Lobbyist and former Fianna Fáil government press secretary Frank Dunlop alleges he made corrupt payments totalling nearly £225,000 to 14 politicians to secure the rezoning of the Quarryvale lands now being probed by the tribunal.
Ms Burton said she had had no knowledge that Mr Dunlop was paying councillors. Initially, she would have regarded him with “the highest of esteem”.
Ms Burton said she had lived in Tanzania in the mid-1980s when the east African country was in the grip of corruption. If she applied the same standards with her experiences in the council, she would have felt something improper was going on.
“When a vote was won — in the sense that a zoning vote was successful — there was very often a celebratory atmosphere,” she said.
Ms Burton said she also noted a “too-close relationship” between councillors on the one hand and developers, their agents and lobbyists on the other.
She agreed with tribunal lawyer Patricia Dillon SC that a possible explanation was that money was changing hands.
Earlier, developer Tom Gilmartin agreed he had signed off accounts as a director of Barkhill, the company linked to the Quarryvale project, although there were no supporting invoices for £80,000 paid to Mr Dunlop.
Barkhill made three separate payments in May and June 1991, to Mr Dunlop’s company Shefran, which a handwritten note described as being in connection with the elections of that year.
The tribunal heard how Barkhill was the vehicle used by Mr Gilmartin to initiate the West Dublin project, but the developer claimed he was forced to hand over control of the company when he got into financial difficulties.
“I was never told what Shefran was,” he said.
Asked why he put his name to the audited accounts, Mr Gilmartin said, by the time payments were made, Barkhill “was out of my hands” and being run by his former business partner Owen O’Callaghan and AIB bank.
The audited accounts related to the period ended April 1992. Asked by tribunal lawyer Pat Quinn SC if he had accepted the books adequately reflected the position, Mr Gilmartin said at the time he couldn’t care less. “I had no input; I had no say in Barkhill... I was falsely (made) bankrupt.”
Irish Examiner
Thursday, 5 July 2007
Tribunal can't probe payment
THE Supreme Court has blocked the Mahon Tribunal from investigating a £30,000 payment to Fianna Fail via former minister Ray Burke.
Described by legal experts as a "fundamental blow" to the operation of the 10-year planning and payments inquiry, it is the first time that the Supreme Court has stopped a tribunal module from going ahead.
Although the ruling will not affect the tribunal's current workload, including the Quarryvale II module now at public hearing, the inquiry is debarred from holding future modules.
Yesterday's ruling means that the tribunal, which wanted to inquire into a £30,000 payment given to Fianna Fail via Ray Burke in 1989, cannot probe 46 additional matters which it had identified as being eligible for investigation.
However, the Irish Independent has learned that the proposed Fitzwilton Module, one of 47 matters identified by the tribunal on a list known as "J2", has never been furnished to the Government.
The tribunal will now be restricted to completing six modules, including Quarryvale II and Carrickmines.
Irish Independent
Described by legal experts as a "fundamental blow" to the operation of the 10-year planning and payments inquiry, it is the first time that the Supreme Court has stopped a tribunal module from going ahead.
Although the ruling will not affect the tribunal's current workload, including the Quarryvale II module now at public hearing, the inquiry is debarred from holding future modules.
Yesterday's ruling means that the tribunal, which wanted to inquire into a £30,000 payment given to Fianna Fail via Ray Burke in 1989, cannot probe 46 additional matters which it had identified as being eligible for investigation.
However, the Irish Independent has learned that the proposed Fitzwilton Module, one of 47 matters identified by the tribunal on a list known as "J2", has never been furnished to the Government.
The tribunal will now be restricted to completing six modules, including Quarryvale II and Carrickmines.
Irish Independent
Gilmartin planned ‘special development’
SLIGO-born developer Tom Gilmartin described yesterday how he planned a “special” development for west Dublin in the early 1990s.
Instead of a shopping centre — which emerged from the Quarryvale project — he envisaged a new town on the site, Mr Gilmartin told the Mahon Tribunal.
“My role was not to make a fortune,” said the 72-year-old Luton-based developer. “It was to create something special in the area.”
Mr Gilmartin alleges he was put under pressure by AIB Bank to give over control of the north Clondalkin project he had initiated to his former business partner, Cork-based developer Owen O’Callaghan. The partnership between the two developers later ended in bitterness.
During his evidence on the Quarryvale module yesterday — his fourth week in the witness box — Mr Gilmartin said had he been able to fulfil his plans he would have built “an entirely different type of development” there.
He said he had envisaged the scheme incorporating a Garda station, health centre, library and civic offices as well as a bus station and free bus services.
“I was invited by Dublin Corporation and the Government to set up this scheme. I was not there to make a killing — but I’m a fool I suppose.
“The scheme I set about doing, which was applauded by the Government, showed what could be done,” he said.
Asked about a series of payments which went out of Barkhill (a company founded by Mr Gilmartin but later effectively controlled by Mr O’Callaghan) he told tribunal lawyer Pat Quinn SC he would have queried any unusual round figures in the accounts. “I had a gut feeling corrupt payments were being made,” he added.
He also told how he had been advised to have nothing to do with political lobbyist Frank Dunlop, a former Fianna Fáil government press secretary.
In 2000, Mr Dunlop became the whistleblower on planning corruption in the Dublin area when he admitted giving bribes to county councillors and other politicians to secure land rezoning.
The tribunal has heard claims Mr Dunlop made corrupt payments totalling nearly £225,000 to 14 politicians to secure the Quarryvale rezoning.
Tribunal chairman Judge Alan Mahon interjected when Mr Gilmartin described Mr Dunlop as “a bagman and a scumbag”. The chairman said: “There is no need to refer to anyone as a scumbag.”
Irish Examiner
Instead of a shopping centre — which emerged from the Quarryvale project — he envisaged a new town on the site, Mr Gilmartin told the Mahon Tribunal.
“My role was not to make a fortune,” said the 72-year-old Luton-based developer. “It was to create something special in the area.”
Mr Gilmartin alleges he was put under pressure by AIB Bank to give over control of the north Clondalkin project he had initiated to his former business partner, Cork-based developer Owen O’Callaghan. The partnership between the two developers later ended in bitterness.
During his evidence on the Quarryvale module yesterday — his fourth week in the witness box — Mr Gilmartin said had he been able to fulfil his plans he would have built “an entirely different type of development” there.
He said he had envisaged the scheme incorporating a Garda station, health centre, library and civic offices as well as a bus station and free bus services.
“I was invited by Dublin Corporation and the Government to set up this scheme. I was not there to make a killing — but I’m a fool I suppose.
“The scheme I set about doing, which was applauded by the Government, showed what could be done,” he said.
Asked about a series of payments which went out of Barkhill (a company founded by Mr Gilmartin but later effectively controlled by Mr O’Callaghan) he told tribunal lawyer Pat Quinn SC he would have queried any unusual round figures in the accounts. “I had a gut feeling corrupt payments were being made,” he added.
He also told how he had been advised to have nothing to do with political lobbyist Frank Dunlop, a former Fianna Fáil government press secretary.
In 2000, Mr Dunlop became the whistleblower on planning corruption in the Dublin area when he admitted giving bribes to county councillors and other politicians to secure land rezoning.
The tribunal has heard claims Mr Dunlop made corrupt payments totalling nearly £225,000 to 14 politicians to secure the Quarryvale rezoning.
Tribunal chairman Judge Alan Mahon interjected when Mr Gilmartin described Mr Dunlop as “a bagman and a scumbag”. The chairman said: “There is no need to refer to anyone as a scumbag.”
Irish Examiner
Monday, 11 June 2007
The team behind Liffey Valley
The Mahon Tribunal’s investigations centre on the relationships and deals that ultimately led to the building of the massive Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in west Dublin.
The centre has proved to be a money-spinner for its joint owners, Cork businessman Owen O’Callaghan and Grosvenor Holdings, a property company owned by the Duke of Westminster. The centre is run through a company called Barkhill, which has its registered address in Cork, but its holding company is Grosvenor Overseas Holdings in London.
The latest accounts for Barkhill show that it made a pre-tax profit of €2.4 million in the financial year to the end of March last year. The company had turnover of €17.4 million from selling development properties at Liffey Valley.
‘‘The company owns a major site at Liffey Valley, Clondalkin, Co Dublin, and has already sold a significant part of the site for shopping centre development,” according to the accounts. ‘‘The company intends to develop the remainder of the site.”
At the end of the financial year, Barkhill had an accumulated profit of €46.5 million and more than €3.1 million in cash on its balance sheet. It was owed €45.6 million by debtors, including €27.3 million from subsidiaries, €9 million from its parent company and €9 million from related parties controlled by O’Callaghan.
The Mahon Tribunal’s investigation into whether Barkhill was involved in payments to politicians is noted under the heading of ‘contingencies’ in the company’s accounts.
‘‘The financial implications, if any, for the company cannot be ascertained until such time as the tribunal completes its investigations,” according to the accounts.
‘‘However, the directors do not believe that any provision is required in the financial statements in respect of this matter.”
The accounts are audited by Deloitte in Dublin, which noted the contingency, but said its opinion was ‘‘not qualified in this respect’’.
Earlier this year, it was reported that O’Callaghan was in talks with South Dublin County Council to double the size of the Liffey Valley shopping centre. The shopping centre already has 320,000 square feet of retail floor space, making it one of the biggest in the country.
O’Callaghan’s other interests include the €500 million Mahon Point shopping centre in Cork. His company, O’Callaghan Properties, is also working on a major retail development on Academy Street in Cork city.
The latest Sunday Times Rich List ranks O’Callaghan as the 75th richest person in Ireland, with an estimated wealth of stg£120 million (€176.8 million).
However, property sources believe that the list underestimates O’Callaghan’s full wealth.
Sunday Business Post
The centre has proved to be a money-spinner for its joint owners, Cork businessman Owen O’Callaghan and Grosvenor Holdings, a property company owned by the Duke of Westminster. The centre is run through a company called Barkhill, which has its registered address in Cork, but its holding company is Grosvenor Overseas Holdings in London.
The latest accounts for Barkhill show that it made a pre-tax profit of €2.4 million in the financial year to the end of March last year. The company had turnover of €17.4 million from selling development properties at Liffey Valley.
‘‘The company owns a major site at Liffey Valley, Clondalkin, Co Dublin, and has already sold a significant part of the site for shopping centre development,” according to the accounts. ‘‘The company intends to develop the remainder of the site.”
At the end of the financial year, Barkhill had an accumulated profit of €46.5 million and more than €3.1 million in cash on its balance sheet. It was owed €45.6 million by debtors, including €27.3 million from subsidiaries, €9 million from its parent company and €9 million from related parties controlled by O’Callaghan.
The Mahon Tribunal’s investigation into whether Barkhill was involved in payments to politicians is noted under the heading of ‘contingencies’ in the company’s accounts.
‘‘The financial implications, if any, for the company cannot be ascertained until such time as the tribunal completes its investigations,” according to the accounts.
‘‘However, the directors do not believe that any provision is required in the financial statements in respect of this matter.”
The accounts are audited by Deloitte in Dublin, which noted the contingency, but said its opinion was ‘‘not qualified in this respect’’.
Earlier this year, it was reported that O’Callaghan was in talks with South Dublin County Council to double the size of the Liffey Valley shopping centre. The shopping centre already has 320,000 square feet of retail floor space, making it one of the biggest in the country.
O’Callaghan’s other interests include the €500 million Mahon Point shopping centre in Cork. His company, O’Callaghan Properties, is also working on a major retail development on Academy Street in Cork city.
The latest Sunday Times Rich List ranks O’Callaghan as the 75th richest person in Ireland, with an estimated wealth of stg£120 million (€176.8 million).
However, property sources believe that the list underestimates O’Callaghan’s full wealth.
Sunday Business Post
Tuesday, 5 June 2007
Long shadow of Quarryvale shopping centre decision
As Tom Gilmartin resumes his evidence to the Mahon tribunal, the background to the Quarryvale planning saga is outlined by Frank McDonald, Environment Editor
The Liffey Valley shopping centre at Quarryvale would never have been built but for the fact that a majority of Dublin county councillors voted in 1992 to rezone the 180-acre site for a retail-based development.
That decision, as we now know and we suspected at the time, was to become the most controversial in the council's history.
For the previous 20 years, successive Dublin county plans had zoned another site in Balgaddy as a "town centre" for the Lucan-Clondalkin agglomeration.
This site however was relatively isolated, with poor road access and an absence of development in the vicinity - despite its location on the Dublin-Cork railway line.
The Balgaddy site was in the hands of Cork-based property developer Owen O'Callaghan, who had almost given up on it when Tom Gilmartin started assembling Quarryvale in the late 1980s. The Sligo-born developer was the first to spot its strategic significance, at the fulcrum of the M50 motorway, then under construction.
Gilmartin, who was based in Luton, had been inspired by the success of the Thatcher-era Metro Centre on Tyneside, a vast out-of-town shopping mall near Gateshead, and saw an opportunity to develop something similar on the outskirts of Dublin "where the M50 meets the N4" - at a time when the Irish economy was down in the dumps.
What he was planning, it emerged, was Ireland's largest shopping centre, with some 1.5 million sq feet of selling space (139,350sq metres), backed up by nearly a million sq ft (92,900sq metres) of retail warehousing and parking for up to 10,000 cars. It was to be a national rather than merely regional shopping mecca.
However, in order to complete his acquisition of the Quarryvale site, Gilmartin had to get his hands on a 69-acre holding zoned for industrial development, which was owned by Dublin Corporation (as it then was). Evidence
assembled by the Mahon tribunal shows he had a number of meetings with politicians to advance his scheme.
Certainly, members of the then Fianna Fáil minority government - including taoiseach Charles Haughey, minister for the environment Pádraig Flynn and minister for labour Bertie Ahern - were aware of Gilmartin's plans for Quarryvale and for another major shopping mall on Bachelors Walk, in the city centre.
It was made clear to senior city and county officials at a meeting in Government Buildings in September 1988 that they were to facilitate these plans. Subsequently, Dublin Corporation agreed to dispose of its site at Quarryvale to Gilmartin for £5.1 million - even though his plans would have potentially damaging impacts on the city centre.
In June 1989, Gilmartin made a substantial donation to Fianna Fáil, giving a blank cheque for £50,000 to Flynn, who made it out to "cash" and lodged it in his bank account at the Bank of Ireland on College Green. Gilmartin's hopes though that Quarryvale would be designated for urban renewal tax incentives came to naught.
He also ran into financing problems. With £15 million racked up on its acquisition, AIB - which was bankrolling the venture - became nervous and encouraged O'Callaghan to get involved. Gilmartin was told that he had to make way for the Cork developer or the bank would put his company into liquidation.
As soon as O'Callaghan was in the driving seat, he set about the task of having Quarryvale rezoned, working closely with lobbyist Frank Dunlop and architect Ambrose Kelly; the plan was to sell the scheme as a much-needed amenity for the deprived communities of north Clondalkin, and this succeeded.
In May 1991, Dublin County Council voted by a large majority (29-13) to relocate the "town centre" zoning from Balgaddy to Quarryvale, even though the latter is located at the northeastern extremity of the "new town" it was meant to serve - a move described by council planners as "seriously detrimental" to 1972 county plan.
A huge political storm blew up and, in the local elections a month later, 12 of the most prominent rezoners - including the late Liam Lawlor - lost their seats. As a result, plans for Quarryvale had to be scaled down, with O'Callaghan proposing that the rezoning would be "capped" at 250,000 sq ft (23,225sq metres) of retail space.
Few believed that the "cap" on Quarryvale would hold or that the 40,000-seat soccer stadium for which O'Callaghan got planning permission to build in 1993 on the Balgaddy/ Neilstown site would ever host a match.
It subsequently emerged that more than 20 councillors had been paid money by Frank Dunlop. The money came from a bank account held by Dunlop at the AIB branch in Rathfarnham, from which there had been substantial withdrawals of cash, amounting to almost £250,000, which coincided with the county council's votes on Quarryvale in 1991 and 1992.
Dunlop's sensational revelations in 2000 showed sums of money were paid to councillors, ranging from £500 at the lower end of the scale to £48,500 in the case of Lawlor.
O'Callaghan said he would be telling the tribunal that he "never instructed or authorised anyone" to pay money on his behalf to any politician for his or her vote.
However, even before the Liffey Valley shopping centre (in which the Duke of Westminster's Grosvenor Holdings had taken a 50 per cent stake) opened in October 1998, South Dublin County Council had already decided to lift the zoning cap on its retail content, allowing the developers to double its size.
In March 2000, however, An Bord Pleanála upheld appeals by Rgdata, which represents smaller retail outlets, and the Irish Hardware Association, by refusing permission for the proposed development on the grounds it would create serious traffic congestion on the M50 and undermine established shops.
The county council was undeterred. Its planners took the view that, since Liffey Valley was up and running, "town centre" zoning should be conferred on it and the originally designated Balgaddy site should be downgraded to "district centre" status - much to the annoyance of Treasury Holdings, which had bought it.
Thus, when Treasury sought planning permission to develop this 15-acre site in recent years, it was flatly turned down twice. Every planning reason under the sun was given for these refusals, but the underlying rationale was that the planners - supported by a majority of South Dublin councillors - favour developing Liffey Valley instead.
In 2001, retail planning guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area were changed to permit its unlimited expansion. And though councillors voted in 2002 to defer giving it "town centre" status until the Mahon tribunal reported on the murky business of how it was rezoned, this decision was reversed in 2004 on the planners' recommendation.
The only consolation for the original "town centre" is that it has been included in a Strategic Development Zone of over 400 acres in Balgaddy and Clonburris. This decision was made last August by Minister for the Environment Dick Roche, because developing this long-neglected area is now seen to be of "economic or social importance".
Frank McDonald
© 2007 The Irish Times
The Liffey Valley shopping centre at Quarryvale would never have been built but for the fact that a majority of Dublin county councillors voted in 1992 to rezone the 180-acre site for a retail-based development.
That decision, as we now know and we suspected at the time, was to become the most controversial in the council's history.
For the previous 20 years, successive Dublin county plans had zoned another site in Balgaddy as a "town centre" for the Lucan-Clondalkin agglomeration.
This site however was relatively isolated, with poor road access and an absence of development in the vicinity - despite its location on the Dublin-Cork railway line.
The Balgaddy site was in the hands of Cork-based property developer Owen O'Callaghan, who had almost given up on it when Tom Gilmartin started assembling Quarryvale in the late 1980s. The Sligo-born developer was the first to spot its strategic significance, at the fulcrum of the M50 motorway, then under construction.
Gilmartin, who was based in Luton, had been inspired by the success of the Thatcher-era Metro Centre on Tyneside, a vast out-of-town shopping mall near Gateshead, and saw an opportunity to develop something similar on the outskirts of Dublin "where the M50 meets the N4" - at a time when the Irish economy was down in the dumps.
What he was planning, it emerged, was Ireland's largest shopping centre, with some 1.5 million sq feet of selling space (139,350sq metres), backed up by nearly a million sq ft (92,900sq metres) of retail warehousing and parking for up to 10,000 cars. It was to be a national rather than merely regional shopping mecca.
However, in order to complete his acquisition of the Quarryvale site, Gilmartin had to get his hands on a 69-acre holding zoned for industrial development, which was owned by Dublin Corporation (as it then was). Evidence
assembled by the Mahon tribunal shows he had a number of meetings with politicians to advance his scheme.
Certainly, members of the then Fianna Fáil minority government - including taoiseach Charles Haughey, minister for the environment Pádraig Flynn and minister for labour Bertie Ahern - were aware of Gilmartin's plans for Quarryvale and for another major shopping mall on Bachelors Walk, in the city centre.
It was made clear to senior city and county officials at a meeting in Government Buildings in September 1988 that they were to facilitate these plans. Subsequently, Dublin Corporation agreed to dispose of its site at Quarryvale to Gilmartin for £5.1 million - even though his plans would have potentially damaging impacts on the city centre.
In June 1989, Gilmartin made a substantial donation to Fianna Fáil, giving a blank cheque for £50,000 to Flynn, who made it out to "cash" and lodged it in his bank account at the Bank of Ireland on College Green. Gilmartin's hopes though that Quarryvale would be designated for urban renewal tax incentives came to naught.
He also ran into financing problems. With £15 million racked up on its acquisition, AIB - which was bankrolling the venture - became nervous and encouraged O'Callaghan to get involved. Gilmartin was told that he had to make way for the Cork developer or the bank would put his company into liquidation.
As soon as O'Callaghan was in the driving seat, he set about the task of having Quarryvale rezoned, working closely with lobbyist Frank Dunlop and architect Ambrose Kelly; the plan was to sell the scheme as a much-needed amenity for the deprived communities of north Clondalkin, and this succeeded.
In May 1991, Dublin County Council voted by a large majority (29-13) to relocate the "town centre" zoning from Balgaddy to Quarryvale, even though the latter is located at the northeastern extremity of the "new town" it was meant to serve - a move described by council planners as "seriously detrimental" to 1972 county plan.
A huge political storm blew up and, in the local elections a month later, 12 of the most prominent rezoners - including the late Liam Lawlor - lost their seats. As a result, plans for Quarryvale had to be scaled down, with O'Callaghan proposing that the rezoning would be "capped" at 250,000 sq ft (23,225sq metres) of retail space.
Few believed that the "cap" on Quarryvale would hold or that the 40,000-seat soccer stadium for which O'Callaghan got planning permission to build in 1993 on the Balgaddy/ Neilstown site would ever host a match.
It subsequently emerged that more than 20 councillors had been paid money by Frank Dunlop. The money came from a bank account held by Dunlop at the AIB branch in Rathfarnham, from which there had been substantial withdrawals of cash, amounting to almost £250,000, which coincided with the county council's votes on Quarryvale in 1991 and 1992.
Dunlop's sensational revelations in 2000 showed sums of money were paid to councillors, ranging from £500 at the lower end of the scale to £48,500 in the case of Lawlor.
O'Callaghan said he would be telling the tribunal that he "never instructed or authorised anyone" to pay money on his behalf to any politician for his or her vote.
However, even before the Liffey Valley shopping centre (in which the Duke of Westminster's Grosvenor Holdings had taken a 50 per cent stake) opened in October 1998, South Dublin County Council had already decided to lift the zoning cap on its retail content, allowing the developers to double its size.
In March 2000, however, An Bord Pleanála upheld appeals by Rgdata, which represents smaller retail outlets, and the Irish Hardware Association, by refusing permission for the proposed development on the grounds it would create serious traffic congestion on the M50 and undermine established shops.
The county council was undeterred. Its planners took the view that, since Liffey Valley was up and running, "town centre" zoning should be conferred on it and the originally designated Balgaddy site should be downgraded to "district centre" status - much to the annoyance of Treasury Holdings, which had bought it.
Thus, when Treasury sought planning permission to develop this 15-acre site in recent years, it was flatly turned down twice. Every planning reason under the sun was given for these refusals, but the underlying rationale was that the planners - supported by a majority of South Dublin councillors - favour developing Liffey Valley instead.
In 2001, retail planning guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area were changed to permit its unlimited expansion. And though councillors voted in 2002 to defer giving it "town centre" status until the Mahon tribunal reported on the murky business of how it was rezoned, this decision was reversed in 2004 on the planners' recommendation.
The only consolation for the original "town centre" is that it has been included in a Strategic Development Zone of over 400 acres in Balgaddy and Clonburris. This decision was made last August by Minister for the Environment Dick Roche, because developing this long-neglected area is now seen to be of "economic or social importance".
Frank McDonald
© 2007 The Irish Times
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