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 is to be asked by the Mahon Tribunal if he gave in excess of £100,000 to candidates who were fighting just one general election.

RETIRED senior banker John Aherne was reminded at the Mahon Tribunal yesterday he could have facilitated criminal activity and money-laundering in the early 1990s by handing out vast amounts of cash.

FORMER lobbyist Frank Dunlop told the Mahon Tribunal yesterday “wild horses” would not make him reveal the identity of a man he met in Dublin’s Davenport Hotel eight years ago.

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.

A GARDA investigation ordered by former Environment Minister Michael Smith into alleged planning corruption in the Dublin area in the early 1990s drew a blank, the Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday.

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.

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.

JUDGE Alan Mahon cast doubt yesterday on Frank Dunlop’s claim to have bought a thoroughbred foal from top trainer Jim Bolger for £62,000 about 15 years ago.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

GIVING donations to politicians who could benefit the company was “a necessary evil”, former Monarch property company secretary Anne Gosling told the Mahon planning tribunal yesterday.

PLANNING tribunal chairman Judge Alan Mahon yesterday criticised a former Fianna Fáil councillor for giving the impression he got no payments from developers.

EX-JUNIOR health minister Chris Flood (FF) told the Mahon Planning Tribunal yesterday he was offered an inducement to support a development project while a member of Dublin County Council.

Former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds today denied being a director of an offshore company which was used to buy rezoned land in north Dublin.

FORMER Taoiseach Albert Reynolds is to be called as a witness before the Planning Tribunal next week to explain his role in an attempt to use an offshore company to buy land in north Dublin.

DUBLIN North TD GV Wright has emphatically rejected claims he reached an agreement with Frank Dunlop to describe £10,000 in cash that he got from the lobbyist as political donations to the Planning Tribunal.

BUSINESSMAN Denis Mahony admitted to the Mahon Tribunal yesterday that cash payments totalling £12,000 he made to former lobbyist Frank Dunlop could be considered “clandestine and hidden transactions”.