Former lobbyist Frank Dunlop has claimed that Cork developer Owen O’Callaghan was not aware of bribes paid to councillors for rezoning land at Quarryvale, which later became Liffey Valley Shopping Centre.

A Fine Gael councillor named in the Mahon Report has claimed she is being used as a Quarryvale payments “scapegoat” while more senior officials facing “identical” questions are cleared of wrongdoing.

Anne Devitt, who has quit Fine Gael in the wake of the Mahon Report, has said she never did anything that had “impinged” on her duty to constitutents.

The Mahon Tribunal was unable to identify a mystery man who “made the Mafia look like monks” by demanding a €5m bribe from developer Tom Gilmartin in the ministerial corridors of Leinster House.

One of the country’s leading property developers, Owen O’Callaghan was “aware of and actively engaged in” facilitating corrupt payments of almost £120,000 to politicians over a three-year period in the early 1990s, according to the Mahon Tribunal.

Developer Tom Gilmartin was a chief tribunal witness who was granted immunity from prosecution and revealed demands of corrupt payments from senior Fianna Fáil figures to facilitate the building of his retail park in Dublin.

Former minister Pádraig Flynn and Cork developer Owen O’Callaghan could face a Garda investigation after the Mahon Tribunal found they had received or made corrupt payments.

Cork-based property developer Owen O’Callaghan is to seek a High Court judicial review of the Mahon Tribunal report findings, describing the procedures used by the judges as “biased, unfair and unjust”.

The late Fianna Fáil TD Liam Lawlor had an “insatiable appetite for money”, and his methods of obtaining it from developers was “occasionally ingenious”, according to the Mahon Report.

The tribunal commended current minister and Labour TD Pat Rabbitte for giving back a £2,000 donation he received from lobbyist Frank Dunlop in 1992.

Many people in the upper echelons of Fianna Fáil, including then taoiseach Albert Reynolds, were aware of a £50,000 donation to former minister Pádraig Flynn which was never put in Fianna Fáil’s coffers.

I NOTE the publication today of the Mahon Tribunal final report which are not the findings of a court of law.

Bertie Ahern said this evening that he rejects the finding of the Mahon Tribunal that he was not truthful in his account of events.

CORK developer Owen O’Callaghan has claimed his long-running dealings with the Mahon Tribunal over the past decade has had a devastating effect on himself and his family.

THE Mahon tribunal yesterday heard claims that ex-taoiseach Albert Reynolds was on the payroll of a top property developer branded as “outrageous fantasy”.

CORK businessman Owen O’Callaghan dismissed suggestions that he handed over a total of £25,000 to two Dublin politicians on the same day 15 years ago because they had backed a big building project.

FORMER taoiseach Bertie Ahern is facing further questioning in the witness box at the Mahon tribunal in September, the Irish Examiner has learnt.

PROPERTY developer Owen O’Callaghan recalled the disaster that faced his massive building project for land in Co Dublin after local election results 17 years ago.

PROPERTY developer Owen O’Callaghan yesterday denied that his “doodling” on accounting documents linked £80,000 he paid to lobbyist Frank Dunlop to local elections and a key Dublin County Council vote in favour of a major planning project.

CORK businessman Owen O’Callaghan has denied he leaked information about the financial difficulties of another developer, Tom Gilmartin, to two newspapers in the early 1990s.

CLAIMS by property developer Owen O’Callaghan that he had never met political lobbyist Frank Dunlop before February 1991 were undermined by evidence at the Mahon Tribunal yesterday.

CORK developer Owen O’Callaghan admitted yesterday he had failed to inform gardaí about his knowledge of planning corruption, despite being aware of allegations of bribery against three politicians, including the late Liam Lawlor.

ALLIED Irish Bank’s (AIB) attitude towards former property developer Tom Gilmartin in the early 1990s “appeared most irregular”, a British commercial property consultant told the Mahon Tribunal yesterday.

ONE of the Mahon Tribunal judges yesterday declared himself “puzzled” how the architect who designed the Liffey Valley shopping centre ran his business without keeping an office diary.

TOM Gilmartin’s aim to transform the Quarryvale site into a major retail development on the fringes of Dublin was described to the Mahon Tribunal yesterday as over-ambitious given the country’s economic state in the late 1980s.

SENIOR Allied Irish Bank manager Michael O’Farrell told the Mahon Tribunal yesterday he had no recollection of Cork-based developer Owen O’Callaghan announcing at a board meeting that he had it from “the horse’s mouth” a rival shopping centre would get no tax breaks.

BUSINESSMAN Tom Gilmartin claimed he didn’t have the air fare when he said he would not be present for a scheduled board meeting concerning the west Dublin development at Quarryvale, the Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday.

SENIOR executives in Allied Irish Bank regarded Cork-based businessman Owen O’Callaghan as the ideal person to drive the Quarryvale development in west Dublin in the early 1990s, the Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday.

PROPERTY developer Owen O’Callaghan probably gave an innocuous explanation when asked about a IR£10,000 political donation to Dublin county councillor Colm McGrath (FF) in October 1991, the Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday.

AIB Bank took a hard line against businessman Tom Gilmartin after it lost confidence in his ability to bring the Quarryvale project in west Dublin to fruition, the Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday.

BUSINESSMAN Tom Gilmartin assured senior AIB bankers he had high-level Fianna Fáil government contacts when he successfully applied for a IR£8.5 million short-term loan to get his ambitious west Dublin Quarryvale project under way, the tribunal heard yesterday.

CORK-BASED property developer Owen O’Callaghan can not account for a £10,000 payment made in connection with the Quarryvale project in west Dublin now under the spotlight, the Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday.

FORMER lobbyist Frank Dunlop denied at the Mahon Tribunal yesterday he fabricated a meeting with a councillor in the early 1990s to conceal a payment of IR£55,000 to a senior politician.

THE chairman of the Mahon Tribunal yesterday asked Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s lawyer to withdraw what he called disgraceful and offensive comments.

A FORMER Fianna Fáil councillor admitted to the Mahon Tribunal yesterday he received a donation from Frank Dunlop — having previously denied the lobbyist’s claim of getting IR£2,000 in cash.

PROPERTY developer Owen O’Callaghan picked up the tab when Fine Gael councillor Therese Ridge and lobbyist Frank Dunlop flew to Cork as part of her canvass for the 1993 Seanad election, the Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday.

PROPERTY developer Owen O’Callaghan paid Frank Dunlop’s legal fees of £364,000 when the lobbyist — who had a secret “war chest” in the region of £470,000 — said he wouldn’t be able to meet continuing bills, the Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday.

THROUGH their Santa letter programme, PricewaterhouseCoopers has provided presents to students at four Dublin schools.

HAVING accepted an invitation several months earlier, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern changed his mind about performing the opening of the Liffey Valley shopping centre in 1998, the Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday.

THERE was a further delay at the Mahon Tribunal yesterday — day 798 of the marathon hearing — when key witness Frank Dunlop failed to attend.

PROPERTY developer Owen O’Callaghan funded Fianna Fáil councillor Sean Gilbride when he took leave of absence from a teaching job to work full-time on the businessman’s Quarryvale project in west Dublin, it was alleged at the Mahon Tribunal yesterday.

PROPERTY developer Owen O’Callaghan bailed out Fianna Fáil councillor Colm McGrath — a major supporter of his Quarryvale project in west Dublin — when he couldn’t pay a debt, the Mahon Planning Tribunal heard yesterday.

AIB BANK would “absolutely deny” talking to anybody about former developer Tom Gilmartin’s business, lawyer Richard Nesbitt SC told the Mahon Tribunal yesterday.

FORMER developer Tom Gilmartin hit back yesterday at business rival Owen O’Callaghan, who had attacked him and the way the Mahon Planning Tribunal was conducting its inquiry.

AN TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern held IR£15 million in an offshore bank in Jersey because he was “too cute”, former developer Tom Gilmartin alleged at the Mahon Tribunal yesterday.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern received more than £100,000 in connection with planning projects from Cork-based developer Owen O’Callaghan in the early 1990s, rival businessman Tom Gilmartin alleged at the Mahon Tribunal yesterday.

BERTIE AHERN yesterday accused developer Tom Gilmartin of being “down his neck for seven and a half years” and levelling “mad and crazy” allegations — including blackmail — against him.

BUSINESSMAN Tom Gilmartin told the Mahon Tribunal yesterday he had regarded Taoiseach Bertie Ahern as one of the few Fianna Fáil politicians he could trust.

BRITISH-BASED businessman Tom Gilmartin denied yesterday his evidence to the Mahon Tribunal was reckless and a malevolent cocktail of lies.

BRITISH-BASED businessman Tom Gilmartin faces tough questioning at the Mahon Tribunal today over his allegations that senior politicians received corrupt payments relating to land rezoning.