FORMER Cork bookmaker Joe Donnelly told the Mahon Planning Tribunal yesterday he attended a private dinner in the company of former taoiseach Albert Reynolds on March 11, 1994.

GUESTS left envelopes on the table after a private fundraising dinner for Fianna Fáil attended by former taoiseach Albert Reynolds, the Mahon Planning Tribunal heard yesterday.

PROPERTY developer Owen O’Callaghan paid for a Sinn Féin-led protest by south Dublin residents who picketed Dublin County Council offices in support of the Quarryvale project, the Mahon Planning Tribunal heard yesterday.

FORMER developer Tom Gilmartin accused Bertie Ahern at the Mahon Planning Tribunal yesterday of low tactics by implying the witness needed psychiatric help as a cover-up to corruption in the Government.

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.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern yesterday gave the Mahon Planning Tribunal three different reasons for withdrawing IR£50,000 in cash from a bank account.

FORMER property developer Tom Gilmartin told the Mahon Planning Tribunal yesterday how lawyers had difficulty “getting their heads round” his allegations of corruption in the planning process.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern was one of several senior government politicians who asked for donations to Fianna Fáil when the party was said to be £3 million in debt, the Mahon Planning Tribunal heard yesterday.

SPARKS flew at the Mahon Planning Tribunal yesterday when Bertie Ahern’s lawyer, Colm O hOisin SC, accused the inquiry of “pushing an agenda” in the examination of the Taoiseach’s bank accounts.

BUSINESSMAN Tom Gilmartin yesterday denied inventing his evidence to the Mahon Planning Tribunal because he was jealous of the success of rival Cork-based property developer, Owen O’Callaghan.

A BANK lodgement of IR£28,772.90 made by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s former partner, Celia Larkin, on December 5, 1994, did not equate with any sterling amount received that day in AIB branch in O’Connell Street, Dublin — but tallied with $45,000, the Mahon Planning Tribunal heard yesterday.

AN attempt was made yesterday to have Taoiseach Bertie Ahern dropped from giving evidence to the Mahon Planning Tribunal, which was set up to probe planning corruption in the Dublin area.

LONG-SERVING Fianna Fáil fundraiser Roy Donovan yesterday doubted that prominent businessman Owen O’Callaghan gave former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds £150,000 in Cork 13 years ago.

CIVIL servants were not aware property developer John Corcoran was making substantial political donations to Fianna Fáil while urging then Environment Minister Padraig Flynn to give special tax concessions to his Dublin shopping centre at Blanchardstown, the Mahon Planning Tribunal heard yesterday.

FORMER government press secretary Frank Dunlop “nearly fell off his chair” after hearing developer Tom Gilmartin threaten to call in the Garda Fraud Squad over his Quarryvale project, the Mahon Planning Tribunal heard yesterday.

THE Mahon Planning Tribunal yesterday challenged Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s lawyer to take his grievances to the courts if his senior counsel believed the inquiry was treating the Taoiseach unfairly.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern’s lawyer yesterday launched a scathing attack on the Mahon Planning Tribunal and called the chief witness, developer Tom Gilmartin, a “puppet” for others to inflict political damage on his client.

The Mahon planning tribunal is scheduled to resume today, however there is speculation that it could be adjourned, following the dissolution of the Dáil yesterday.

Bertie Ahern today faces a politically damaging allegation that he received £80,000 from property developer Owen O’Callaghan to help block a rival’s project.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern is facing a fraught canvass as he is likely to have to testify before the General Election at the Mahon Planning Tribunal into payment allegations.

FORMER senior planning officer George Redmond complained yesterday he was “stitched in” to the Mahon Planning Tribunal’s latest probe although he had “no role” in efforts to rezone South Dublin land.

AS MUCH as 5% of the money raised to fund Fianna Fáil came through a bill-paying system known as “pick-me-ups” (PMUs), the Mahon Planning Tribunal heard yesterday.

PROPERTY boss Brendan Hickey admitted to the Mahon Planning Tribunal yesterday he wrote a £20,000 cheque purporting to be for professional public relations services knowing it was for donations to politicians.

FORMER lobbyist Frank Dunlop admitted at the Mahon Planning Tribunal yesterday to telling county councillors he was going to develop the former racecourse lands at Baldoyle in north Co Dublin.

FORMER Taoiseach Charles J Haughey turned up at a meeting between developer John Byrne and senior officials of Dublin Co Council, the Mahon Planning Tribunal heard yesterday.

A PUBLIC fixation linking the late Charles J Haughey to the former Baldoyle Racecourse wrecked a developer’s ambition to build houses there, the Mahon Planning Tribunal heard yesterday.

EFFORTS to develop the former Baldoyle Racecourse in north county Dublin during the early 1990s proved to be a non-runner, the Mahon Planning Tribunal heard yesterday.

PEOPLE believe the planning process “is still not as clean as it should be” — despite the ongoing work of the Mahon Planning Tribunal, Labour TD Sean Ryan said yesterday.

FORMER Fine Gael councillor Jim Fay alleged at the Mahon Planning Tribunal yesterday he had to put £5,000 cash in an envelope for an official in An Bord Pleanála to get planning permission.

FORMER Fine Gael senator Liam T Cosgrave yesterday claimed the Mahon Planning Tribunal was “protecting” Frank Dunlop, whom he called a “perjuring parrot”.

SOLICITOR Denis Murnaghan told the Mahon Planning Tribunal yesterday he warned backers, of an industrial project near Dublin Airport, “to have nothing to do” with lobbyist Frank Dunlop.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern was “very much in evidence” at a Fianna Fáil fundraiser attended by land speculators whose north Dublin property rezoning is being probed by the Mahon Planning Tribunal, it emerged yesterday.

JUDGE Gerald Keys of the Mahon Planning Tribunal suggested yesterday councillors might have acted irresponsibly by ignoring safety fears when they voted to rezone land near Dublin Airport in 1993.

JUNIOR Minister Noel Treacy yesterday said he regretted creating the impression someone within the Mahon Planning Tribunal was responsible for leaking confidential information about payments to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

A DUBLIN businessman said yesterday it was “coincidence” that he and two associates failed to tell the Mahon Planning Tribunal about Ciaran Haughey’s involvement in their airfreight warehousing project.

FINANCE Minister Brian Cowen yesterday defended his backing for a commercial enterprise near Dublin Airport headed by a businessman from a Fianna Fáil family.

THE editor of The Irish Times Geraldine Kennedy yesterday stood over her decision to publish the story that triggered the political crisis engulfing Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

IRISH TIMES editor Geraldine Kennedy and the paper’s public affairs correspondent Colm Keena are to appear before the Mahon Planning Tribunal this morning over their leak of payments to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

AER Rianta suspected corruption was behind some Dublin County Council rezoning decisions in the 1990s, former general manager Brian Byrne told the Mahon Planning Tribunal yesterday.

LOBBYIST Frank Dunlop has insisted he gave a £1,000 bribe in 1993 to Sean Gilbride, then a Fianna Fáil member of Dublin County Council, to sign a rezoning motion on behalf of landowner Paul Walls.

AN architect, who worked on a north county Dublin housing development, denied at the Mahon Planning Tribunal yesterday he recommended the hiring of lobbyist Frank Dunlop, who has alleged he bribed councillors to get lands rezoned.

FIANNA FÁIL Senator Don Lydon yesterday denounced, as “filth” allegations linking him to bribery in Dublin County Council.

FORMER lobbyist Frank Dunlop was accused at the Mahon Planning Tribunal yesterday of hallucinating when alleging he paid Fianna Fáil councillor Tony Fox £2,000 to vote for a south Dublin housing development in the 1990s.

FINE GAEL councillor Olivia Mitchell was caught hugging a developer after Monarch Properties won a vital rezoning vote, the Mahon Planning Tribunal heard yesterday.